


The Princess and the Knight

by WardenRoot



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Royalty, F/F, Knight(ish)!Sara, Most of the legends make an appearance, Princess!Ava
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-08-21 19:37:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 30,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16582769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WardenRoot/pseuds/WardenRoot
Summary: Sara is asked by her old friend Lord Hunter to escort the kingdom's princess to a neighboring kingdom where she will marry Prince John of Constantine.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been thinking about this fic for months and finally started writing it, hope you like it!

Sara’s sword sinks easily into the chest of a bandit. She pulls it out with a grunt, and in one fluid motion brings it around to slice the throat of another. She keeps her arm moving, searching for her next target. A quick look around her shows Mick grabbing someone by the front of their armor, Zari looking for a target with her bow raised, Amaya disarming someone, Jax with a raised crossbow, and Ray and Nate high five-ing each other over a dead body. Sara’s body moves on instinct when an unfamiliar voice calls her name, swinging her sword around. She manages to stop it half an inch away from the newcomer’s neck, only to press it up against their throat, hard enough to sting but not to wound. Around her the fighting stops, all the bandits either dead or subdued, and Sara takes a moment to inspect the person in front of her. It’s a boy, younger than Sara but older than what she’d expect from a courier. He’s got short, black hair, he’s wearing normal clothes, not a single piece of armor, and he’s got a satchel hanging from his shoulder. 

“Who’s asking?” she asks, sending an icy glare into the boy’s terrified eyes. The boy swallows, tries to control his breathing enough to answer. 

“The royal family.”

“No.” Sara lowers her sword and turns around, hoping the boy will leave. 

“But,” the boy says, disbelief in his voice. “The royal family has summoned you, Ser Lance. Lord Hunter asked for you specifically.” Sara stops, sighs at the mention of Rip’s name. She reluctantly turns back around to the boy, who’s extracted a letter from his satchel. Sara takes it and breaks the seal, quickly reading over the words, written in Rip’s unmistakable hand. It reveals nothing about why she’s been summoned, and Sara’s tempted to ignore it just for that, but she knows she can’t. 

“I’ll ride for the castle at first light,” she tells the boy, pocketing the letter and turning away from him, trying to end the conversation for the second time. 

“It’s urgent, you have to come right away!” the boy tries and Sara groans. 

“If you didn’t notice, we’re kinda in the middle of something,” Sara says, jaw clenched, and gestures around herself to the bodies on the ground and her team’s wary eyes, watching the newcomer. 

“It, uh, it looks like you’re done,” he says, a new layer of fear added to his voice, and he takes a step back. They’re not done, Sara thinks, they still have to ride back to the small village that requested their help with the bandits and tell them they've been dealt with, eat a warm meal, and then she'll hopefully find a body to warm her bed for the night. 

“I’ll ride for the castle at first light,” Sara repeats, casting him a glare over her shoulder. 

“As you wish, my, uh, lady, as you wish,” he says, his words coming out too fast, and then he turns and practically runs away from the group. 

Sara cleans her bloodied sword, sheaths it, and leads her team back to where they’d left the horses. 

 

True to her word, Sara’s on her white horse, Gideon, and dreading the journey to the royal castle as the first rays of sunlight hits the horizon. She’s ordered her team to stay in the village until she’s heard what Rip wants from her, helping with whatever they can. The journey to the castle takes her most of the day, her horse taking her there as fast as its legs will allow. When she arrives at the gate the castle guards point arrows at her and Sara entertains the idea that if she could be bothered, if she were here for a less savory reason, she could make her way through all of them in the blink of an eye. But she’s not here for any of those reasons that belong to a life long since left behind, and instead she pulls out the letter from the day before and holds it up for the guards to see, royal seal and all. The guards let her in the gate and she pats Gideon as she jumps off, giving her a pat as a stable boy takes the reins from her. 

As she’s instructed to wait she takes note of everything around her, counts the guards, pays attention to which are alert and which are relaxed, not expecting anything out of the ordinary. The boy from the previous day comes to take her to the throne room, only a little jumpy as he shows Sara the way. He leaves her at the open door, practically runs away from her, and Sara’s got an amused smile at her lips as she walks inside the big throne room. She’s never cared much for royals, or nobles in general, really. The first part of her life she spent living by their rules, the second she spent killing them, among other things, and now she’s happy to ignore them. But she owes Rip, for helping her put her life together after the second part of it, and introducing her to most of the members of her team, and that is the only reason she finds herself walking right into the belly of this particular beast, finding herself face to face with King Alistair. She doesn’t bow, stares him straight in the eyes before she lets hers fly to Rip, standing by the king’s side. He shakes his head at her, but Sara doubts he expected anything else. 

“Ser Lance,” Rip says, smiling at her as if they’re old friends meeting up at an inn, not an - according to Sara - unjustly knighted former assassin, and the royal adviser who had insisted the knighting would be good for her. 

“Rip,” she nods. “Why am I here?”

“I have an important task, one that can only be entrusted to someone completely trustworthy, with the skill to match it. Lord Hunter assures me you’re the best,” the king says, speaking for the first time. Sara’s eyes move back to him before she speaks again. 

“I don’t work for nobles, you have enough people to send wherever you want to. Me and my team help those you don’t.” Sara holds his gaze as she speaks, eyes defiant. As a little girl she was taught to fear the power of nobles, but she stopped fearing them the moment she learned how to kill them. 

“Sara, please, just hear him out. This mission is important for the whole kingdom.” Sara bites her tongue to refrain from declining, thinks she owes it to Rip to at least hear them out. She nods for the king to continue. 

“My daughter is betrothed to Prince John of Constantine, and their wedding is set two weeks from now. I fear a royal escort might make her a target out on the road, and would like for you and a few members of your team, the ones you think the most suited, to escort her. She will be disguised as a commoner, you must tell no one apart from those on the journey with you, and you must protect her from whatever might lurk on your way.”

“Neither me nor my team are in the business of escorting royals anywhere, find someone else,” Sara says, turning to leave, thinking this whole thing a waste of her time. 

“Sara, wait, please,” Rip pleads, running down the stairs from the throne. Against her better judgement she stops, lets Rip turn her back around. “If anything goes wrong on the princess's journey it could jeopardize our hard fought alliance with the kingdom of Constantine, and the balance of our own. Now you might not care about the court, but whatever happens will have consequences for the people you claim to protect. Please, do this one thing for me.”

Sara looks into Rip’s pleading eyes, considers his words, considers everything he’s done for her, and sighs as she relaxes her jaw. “Fine, I will escort the princess to her prince, but after that I'm done with helping the nobles, friends of yours or not.”

“Thank you,” he says, relief and gratefulness in his voice. The king nods at her, and then the now familiar boy that had taken her here reappears. “Ah, Gary here will take you to a guest chamber for the night, I’ll have food sent to you.” Sara nods and then that’s that, the boy, Gary, leads her to a room much fancier than anything she’s slept in for years, and she’s left to her own devices until morning. 

 

“Whoever you are, I’ll be out in a few more minutes,” Sara says, sleep evident in her voice, assuming one of her teammates are responsible for the knocking on the door. When the knocking persists she opens her eyes with a sigh, only to close them again at the unexpected brightness in the room. She opens them again, slower this time, and remembers where she is as she takes in the big room around her, far fancier than any tavern room Sara’s ever slept in. She reluctantly gets out of bed, grabbing the knife she hid under the pillow. She hides the hilt in her fist and presses the blade against her forearm as she makes her way to the door and slowly opens it. 

“What?” she asks as she opens the door. She’s unsurprised to see Gary on the other end. 

“I’m here to escort you to breakfast and Princess Ava,” he says, his voice shaking just a little bit. Sara rolls her eyes and closes the door. The knocking starts up again immediately. “Ser Lance?”

“Relax, Gary, I’m getting dressed,” she calls through the door, hint of annoyance in her voice. 

The knocking finally stops and Sara quickly gets dressed, then takes a moment to go through the room, erasing everything that could hint at her having been there, other than the ruffled sheets. When she opens the door again, Gary’s standing in the exact spot she left him, right in front of the door. She glares at him and he jumps back a step. As he leads her to breakfast Sara can’t help but wonder if his fear is due to more than just the way they met. 

“The princess is right through here,” Gary says when they stop, gesturing at a door just slightly ajar.

She takes a step towards it and Gary turns to leave, his work done. Sara takes a deep breath before pushing the door open, wishes she’d denied Rip, not looking forward to having to babysit a princess on a journey that will take them a little over a week to complete. When the door falls open she’s immediately met with an icy stare from one of the room’s two occupants. Sara takes a moment to inspect the owner of the stare as she walks towards the table she’s currently eating at. Princess Ava looks every bit the royal Sara was taught to avoid, her stare would send shivers down Sara’s back had Sara been anyone else. Her long, blonde hair is up in a tight bun, her mouth in a straight line, as she just observes Sara. Sara’s eyes drop to the princess’s blue dress, only stopping slightly at the cleavage it shows, and then her eyes come to a stop at her hands, one easily holding a fork, piercing whatever it is she’s eating for breakfast, the other holding the knife she would use to cut her food if it weren’t aimed right at Sara instead. 

“I’m Sa-“ Sara starts as she takes a seat at the table, opposite the princess, in front of a plate she assumes was put there for her. 

“I know exactly who you are,” the princess scoffs, icy glare still looking right into Sara’s eyes. “I want to make one thing clear,  _ Ser _ Lance, I did not choose this arrangement, and were it up to me I’d rather travel to Constantine by myself than with you lot.” Sara clenches her jaw, tries to think of a response when the princess puts down her cutlery and gets out of her chair. “We leave before the end of the hour, I recommend you eat quickly.”

“You’re gonna be uncomfortable riding in a dress,” is all Sara can think to call after her as she leaves Sara to wonder exactly how much Rip had told everyone about her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got three more chapters for this written, and I think I'm gonna try to post one per week, and I'm hoping I'll be able to complete at least one or two more by the time they're all posted but I'm not really known for my quick writing speeds lol, rest assured that I'm super invested in this au tho and will definitely finish it!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It technically hasn't been a week just yet but saturday is usually dnd day so I think I'm gonna try posting fridays.  
> Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Sara’s a little surprised when she’s finished her meal and doesn’t find Gary waiting for her right outside the door. Judging by how long she’s sat by the table it’s almost time to leave and Sara had expected Gary to lead her somewhere, but instead she’s left to walk the halls alone. The unfamiliarity of the walls and people around her has Sara sticking to the shadows without even realizing it, quietly navigating through the castle. She’s almost by the castle’s entrance when she hears a guard asking a servant if they know where she is. She debates if she should ignore it but settles on making her presence known to the guard.

“What?” she asks, walking up behind her. The guard jumps, before turning around to face her.

“Lo- uh Lord Hunter is looking for you,” the guard says, awkwardly putting a fist over her heart and bowing her head. 

Sara inspects her for a moment, pokes her tongue out to lick her lips in thought. “Where can I find him?”

“If you’ll follow me I’ll take you to him.”

“Lead the way.”

The visit with Rip goes by quickly, he hands her a satchel with some gold for the trip and maps leading all the way to the capital of Constantine. When they’ve said their goodbyes he has the same guard take Sara to the castle gates, where Gideon, the princess, and Gary are all waiting. It suddenly dawns on Sara why Gary hadn’t been there to pick her up after breakfast.

“Finally,” the princess scoffs. Sara rolls her eyes.

“No way he's coming with us.”

“Gary goes where I go.”

“He looks like he’ll run away at the first sign of danger.”

“Isn’t that why Lord Hunter wanted you on this trip? To protect a royal for a change? Gary’s not here to do your job.”

Sara clenches her jaw and takes a breath. “Fine. Your maid or whatever he is, can come, but he does as I say.”

“Gary does what  _ I _ tell him to.” Princess Ava steps out from behind her horse, that, Sara notes, is black in stark contrast to her white one, and Sara’s eyes involuntarily look her up and down. She’s changed from her dress from earlier, now she’s wearing leather leggings, a white tunic, a black belt, and a cape just as black, but her hair is still in the same bun as it was during breakfast. Sara tries to refrain from referring to her as ‘hot’.

“Whatever,” she says, rolling her eyes, and moves to get on her horse. “Let’s just get going, the sooner we start this trip, the sooner we can end it.”

 

They ride in silence for a while. Sara’s determined to take the lead, it’s what she’s used to and Rip recruited her to protect the princess, and even if she doesn’t like it she’s going to do her damn job. The only problem is, said princess refuses to let her lead, which ends with them awkwardly riding next to each other, Gary following a few paces behind. Sara’s used to silence, most of the time she prefers it, but for some reason she can’t figure out this particular silence unnerves her, so she finds herself trying for conversation.

“So, princess,” she starts, only to get interrupted.

“It’s Princess Ava or Your Royal Highness.”

“So, Ava,” Sara corrects, smirking at the visible annoyance she can see on the other woman’s face.  _ Ava it is _ , she thinks to herself. “Ever been to Constantine before?”

“Why do you care?” Ava asks tersely. 

“Because we’ve more than a week of traveling to do together, might as well get to know each other.”

“I’ll ride with Gary,” Ava announces, slowing her horse enough that Sara’s leading by herself. Sara shrugs and rolls her eyes, but she doesn’t try for any more conversation.

 

They ride for a while more before stopping to eat and to let the horses rest. Sara retrieves her bow and quiver from Gideon to go hunting for dinner, only to turn around to Ava giving her a disapproving look. She tells Gary to tie the horses up next to a nearby stream, a little ways away from where they're standing, before giving Ava her full attention.

“What?” she asks briskly. One look from Ava is all she needs to feel annoyance rise through her.

“You didn’t pack any food.” It’s more a statement than a question, accusation lacing Ava’s words. Sara shrugs.

“Plenty of food out there,” she says defensively, pointing to the forest with her bow. Ava rolls her eyes.

“If you go hunting, we’re going to waste time for you to find something, kill it, bring it back, make a fire, and cook it. The faster we eat, the faster we meet up with your  _ team _ ,” Ava makes a face at the last word, “the faster we can sleep, and the sooner we can be on our way in the morning.”

“I didn’t realize you were that eager to get to your prince.” Ava winces at Sara’s words, just for a moment, before she schools herself back into a familiar face of annoyance that Sara’s becoming more and more sure is just Ava’s default expression.

Ava opens her mouth to reply when an arrow whisks past their heads, lodging itself in a tree not far from them. Another arrow follows, aimed right at Ava, but Sara pushes her out of the way and it flies past them to join the other. Sara curses herself for having been too preoccupied with Ava to check their surroundings. 

“Bandits, get down!” she calls, releasing her hold on the bow and quiver, quickly unsheathing her sword instead. Another arrow flies her way but, anticipating it, she easily steps to the side just in time to dodge it. She searches their surroundings with her eyes, trying to pinpoint where the arrows come from, when two men emerge from the trees, swords in hand. In her peripheral vision she sees Ava bend down to grab Sara’s bow, before taking cover behind a tree.

“What the hell are you doing?” Sara calls, raising her sword to deflect an incoming blow.

“What does it look like?” comes the reply, just as Ava knocks an arrow and ducks out from behind the tree. 

Sara hears the sound of the arrow being released as she turns around to block a blow from the second bandit, followed by a yelp of pain that could only come from Ava. Sara kicks one of the bandits with enough force to knock him to the ground, turns around to cut across the stomach of the other bandit, then turns to look at Ava. She can see a tear at the left arm of Ava’s tunic, the same arm holding the bow. Sara takes note of the fact that the bow is just a little bit unsteady, but there’s another arrow already knocked.

“Behind you!” Sara turns around just in time to see the bandit she’d kicked get back on his feet, charging towards her. She sidesteps him, hears the release of an arrow, turns around to see the bandit dropping to the ground once more, an arrow sticking out of his chest.

“The archer,” Sara starts, her eyes finding Ava again.

“I got him, right when he got me,” Ava says, her voice pained.

“Good,” Sara sighs. “Sit down, I need to look at that.”

“It’s nothing.”

“You’re getting blood all over your expensive noble clothes, it’s not nothing, now sit!”

Ava rolls her eyes but reluctantly sits down on a nearby log. Sara sits down right next to her, hands quickly coming up to inspect the wound underneath the bloody cloth.

“Bad news,” Sara starts, her voice as serious as it’s ever been, “there’s nothing I can do to save your tunic.” Ava turns around with a murderous glare and Sara’s lips curve up in an amused smile. Ava holds her gaze and in one swift motion uses her right hand to pull at the fabric of her tunic, tearing the sleeve off. Sara bites her tongue to keep from saying anything that might sound like a compliment.

“Let’s go find Gary, I have bandages for that in my bag, and this spot doesn’t look all that enticing to eat at anymore.” To Sara’s surprise Ava doesn’t argue, wordlessly following her through the woods. They find Gary not too far away, but far enough that he has no idea of what just happened, busy cooing at his horse. Sara makes quick work of cleaning and bandaging the wound.

“Where’d you learn to use a bow?” Sara asks when they’re once again ready to travel.

“I was raised to rule, Ser Lance. Rulers need to know how to protect themselves.”

“Right.”

 

They ride for a few more hours, before they’re back at the same inn Sara had been at not even two days before. Ava makes a face as they enter it.

“Sorry it’s not up to your roy- to your standards, but it’s this or the dirt road outside for the night,” Sara says as they enter, catching herself before she can announce to the entire inn that she’s got a princess with her.

Sara, unsurprisingly, finds her team at a table in the back of the inn, drinking. Ava pulls another face when she seems to realize that Sara is indeed walking towards the loud group.

“Boss!” Mick says as he notices her, raising his tankard in her direction. “Who’s the new guys?” Every head on the table turns to look at them at Mick’s words.

Sara waits until she’s seated before she answers, Ava reluctantly sitting down next to her. “This is Ava and her… whatever. I have to take her to a neighboring kingdom.”

“You as in only you or as in all of us?” Nate asks. Sara thinks it over for a moment, taking everyone is pretty much out of the question, too big a group, especially this group, would draw too much unwanted attention, but the whole reason for coming to the inn was to pick up a couple of them, to help keep Ava safe.

“I’m only gonna take a couple of you with us, there’s no reason for everyone to go, the rest of you should stick together, see if you can help some people.”

“Grey sent for me, while you were gone,” Jax pipes up. Sara considers it, then arrives at a conclusion. 

“You should take the boys with you, and wish Lord Stein well for me when you see him. Amaya, Zari, you’re with me.” There’s a chorus of agreement around the table.

“We should go get rooms, the faster we go to bed, the faster we can leave tomorrow,” Ava says, tone leaving no room for argument. 

Sara sighs but leads Ava to the innkeeper, getting a room for herself and letting Ava pay for a room for her and Gary. As she waits she lets her eyes roam the people around the inn. Her eyes fall on the girl she spent the night with just two nights prior, and the girl’s eyes quickly finds Sara’s. Sara smiles and the girl waves shyly at her, Sara’s sure the girl wouldn’t say no to another night with her. She’s just about to make her way over when she lets her eyes travel over the other bodies in the inn, notices a few people looking curiously at Ava, with her too fancy clothes, and too  _ noble _ attitude.

“I’m going to bed, make sure not to oversleep,” Ava says, appearing right by Sara’s side when she’s done paying for the room.

“Actually, maybe Gary should take my room, and I’ll sleep with you,” Sara says, eyes still inspecting the more shady people of the inn. 

Ava looks like she wants to protest, but she acquiesces when she sees Sara’s serious expression. Gary looks dubious when they tell him, but he doesn’t argue Ava’s orders. Sara’s relieved to see that Ava had gotten a room with two beds as opposed to one big one. Sara takes the bed closest to the door, places her sword right next to it along with a dagger under her pillow. 

“Let me check the wound before bed.” Ava starts to protest but Sara’s already making her way across the room, waterskin and fresh bandages in hand. Ava reluctantly sits down on the edge of the bed, wordlessly lets Sara take the old bandage off, properly clean all the blood away, and rebandage it. “It looks good, I’d like to check it tomorrow too but it should heal quite nicely,” Sara says, nodding more to herself than to Ava, mindlessly smoothing over the bandage with her thumb. When she realizes what she’s doing she quickly withdraws her hand and gets up from the bed.

“G’night,” she says, returning her items to her backpack and discarding the used bandage, before finally going to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

The night is restless; Sara sleeps but very lightly, expecting someone to try to come into the room belonging to the person obviously not belonging to this environment sometime during the night, catches just about every sound that’s made outside the room’s door. The closer to morning it gets, the deeper Sara’s sleep gets, until she’s no longer aware of what’s happening around her, which is why she misses the steps leading up to the door, only wakes at the sound of the door protesting as it’s opened, and in seconds she’s out of bed, her sword drawn and pressed against the intruder’s neck, her body running on autopilot. She lowers her arm when she sees who it is.

“For fuck’s sake, Gary, wear a bell or something!” she whisper shouts as she sheaths her sword.

“Uh, s-sorry,” Gary says, eyes wide and hands still up in the air, even though it’s been half a minute since Sara removed her sword.

“I’d appreciate it if you can make it through this journey without killing my manservant,” Ava pipes up, getting up from the bed.

“I’d appreciate it if your manservant didn’t sneak up on us while we're asleep,” Sara shoots back, already annoyed despite not even having been awake for five minutes. Sara’s eyes fall on Ava, and more specifically Ava’s bandaged arm. “Let me look at that.”

“It’s fine,” Ava says, waving her hand. Sara rolls her eyes and crosses the distance between them, grabbing Ava’s arm before she has another chance to protest.

“I’m not escorting you all the way to Constantine just to have you die from an infection.” Ava looks like she wants to protest but settles for rolling her eyes. “Gary, get me some fresh bandages from my pack.” Gary looks unsure of what to do until Ava gives him a nod and he does as told. Sara makes quick work of changing the bandages. She’s a little relieved to see that the wound is healing nicely, though she would never admit that to Ava.

They catch the boys just before they leave. Sara’s a little impressed they’re all up before her, especially with Ava wanting to leave as soon as possible, but she knows Jax misses Stein and his mom, imagines Jax forcing the boys up at the first sign of light. They say their goodbyes with Ava staring at them impatiently, which Sara refuses to get annoyed at because saying goodbye to more than half of her team, even if only for a couple weeks, is bad enough without Ava’s interference.

“So who exactly is this chick?” Zari asks when they’re getting ready leave, away from all the ears of the inn. Ava and Gary are tending to their horses a few paces behind them, close enough that Sara can clearly see them but far enough away that they shouldn’t be able to hear what they’re saying.

“That is the beloved princess of this kingdom. Apparently daddy dearest doesn’t think dozens of his soldiers good enough to escort her to her betrothed so we get the pleasure instead.”

“Great, we’re not just dealing with nobility, we’re dealing with royalty.”

“Have a little respect,” Amaya says, lightly punching Zari’s arm. Zari rolls her eyes and sighs, and Amaya shakes her head fondly. Sara’s lips slightly curve up as she watches them, until Ava rides up next to them and ruins the moment.

“Are you going to stand around talking all morning or can we get going?” 

Sara sighs and quickly gets herself seated on Gideon’s back.  “I’d never dream of keeping you waiting, Your Royal Highness,” Sara says, voice dripping with sarcasm, adding a small bow at the end. Ava rolls her eyes and starts moving away from them. 

“Zari, Amaya, take the rear,” Sara calls as she commands Gideon to follow Ava.

 

Dinner is mostly eaten in silence. Ava had bought them all food to last the day from the inn so they, in her words, wouldn’t waste good travel time running through the woods, but Sara had managed to convince her that a fire to reheat the now cold food maybe wasn’t such a bad idea, especially with the cold that had seemed to follow them during the day. Gary does his best to strike up conversation, but is mostly met with curt answers or silence. Amaya takes pity on him sometimes, listening to his stories and telling stories of her own, urging Zari to do the same. Sara, for the most time, spends dinner ignoring Ava - which isn’t hard as Ava does the same - and mourning the fresh food she could be eating if Ava’s primary concern wasn’t minimizing travel time more than strictly necessary. When they’re done eating Sara instructs Zari to extinguish the fire as she makes her way over to Gideon, making sure she’s ready to continue the journey. When she turns back to the others her blood goes cold.

“Guys, where the hell is Ava?” Amaya and Gary are in deep conversation, and Zari’s in the process of extinguishing the fire, but all eyes turn to her at her question.

“She was sitting right over there,” Zari says, pointing to where Ava had been seated all through dinner.

Sara closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “You’re telling me none of you noticed Ava getting up from her seat?” She’s met with three varying faces of guilt. She shakes her head and unsheathes her sword, walking over to where Ava had been sitting only moments before. She sees tracks in the ground that clearly belongs to a person and hastily follows them.

“Ava!” she calls after a few minutes, but gets no reply. She walks a little longer and relief floods her when she sees an annoyingly familiar blonde head of hair. She curses when her eyes travel higher to stop at a net of stones being held up right above where Ava’s going. She quickly sheaths her sword as she runs towards Ava, reaching her just as Ava’s foot triggers the trap. She throws herself against her, arms outstretched, and tackles her to the ground, just to the side of the rocks currently hitting the ground where Ava had been standing. She sighs in relief as she lets go of her hold on Ava.

“What the hell are you doing? Get off of me!” Ava says as she pushes Sara away and climbs to her feet.

Sara rolls her eyes as she does the same, turns to Ava with an annoyed expression. “You’re just mad because I saved your life  _ again _ !” Ava looks like she’s about to protest when they’re interrupted by three out of breath people reaching them.

“Princess Ava, you’re okay!” Gary exclaims, clearly relieved. “You’re bleeding!”

“What?” Ava asks just as Sara’s eyes fall to arm, blood bleeding through Ava’s previously unruined white tunic where the arrow had cut her the day before. Ava’s eyes follow and her expression, if even possible, turns even more annoyed. “Great, not only did you try to kill me, you reopened my wound.”

Sara rolls her eyes, of course Ava’s going to blame her. “I  _ saved _ you. And none of this would have happened if you didn’t decide to take a stroll through the forest, miss ‘No, Sara, hunting food so we can eat takes way too much time’.”

“I heard noises and I was going to make sure we weren’t going to be ambushed, which is supposed to be your job.”

“Next time, tell the professionals and let them deal with it.”

“Guys! Are you going to stand here and argue or are we going to be on our way? Whoever made that trap will be back at some point.”

“Amaya’s right,” Sara sighs. Ava nods and starts walking ahead of them, Gary right at her heels. Sara shakes her head and follows, intent on not letting Ava out of her sight again.

 

When night comes around they settle in a small clearing a ways away from the road, miles away from the nearest inn. They eat almost all the rest of the food Ava had made them buy, leaving a little for breakfast, before going to bed.

“I’ll take first watch, Zari you take second, and Amaya takes third,” Sara says when everyone’s mostly settled.

“What about me and Gary?” Ava protests.

“You,” Sara points a finger at Ava, “are our charge, can’t interrupt the princess’s beauty sleep and all that.” Ava starts to protest but Sara continues on before she can say anything. “And would you really trust Gary to notice if someone was sneaking up on us? He’d probably start daydreaming or watch the trees or something.”

“Gary’s capable! Mostly…” Sara raises an eyebrow at Ava, sees conflict on her face. “I should help.”

“Tell you what, you can stay up during my watch and if you make it through it I’ll consider giving you one of your very own tomorrow.” Sara sees Ava’s murderous glare even in the low light offered to them by the moon, but to her surprise Ava doesn’t protest, just bites her lip, obviously thinking it over.

“Fine, but next time we’re sleeping on the ground you’re giving me my own watch.”

“Sure, princess.”

“What about me?” Gary pipes up, already having made his own bedroll ready.

“Go to sleep, Gary,” Ava and Sara say at the same time, turning to the man in question. Gary mumbles a halfhearted goodnight and goes to sleep. Amaya and Zari soon follow, bundled up together, and then it’s only Sara and Ava left awake. 

Sara finds a random stick on the ground and takes out one of her knives, whittling it to pass the time. From the looks of it Ava hadn’t thought that far ahead while packing, doing nothing but staring determinedly at the air in front of her. An hour passes and Sara’s accumulated a small pile of pointy sticks with no hint of bark on them, showing no sign of exhaustion. Ava, on the other hand, is still staring stubbornly straight ahead, but by now she’s started shaking just a little, not accustomed to the cold night air. Sara’s pretty sure she’s also seen her eyes close once or twice, but only for a couple seconds, before Ava realizes what she’s doing and opens them again, continuing her stubborn staring. Sara sighs as her latest stick joins the pile of many others.

“Go to sleep.”

“No.”

Sara’s hand stops halfway on its way to a new stick. She suppresses another sigh and looks up at Ava.

“Go to sleep,” she repeats, in the same voice she uses on her teammates when they start acting like children (which happens to be most of the time she spends with them).

“I’m fine,” Ava insists. 

Sara goes back to her whittling - if Ava wants to act like a child that’s none of her concern.

More time passes, and as they get closer and closer to Zari’s shift, Ava’s shaking intensifies and her eyes close more often, for longer periods of time. Sara doesn’t get why Ava won’t just go to sleep - (that’s a lie, Sara remembers a young girl, fresh out of her training in the league, being just as stubborn as Ava, wanting nothing more than to do her part, to feel useful, despite Nyssa insisting she get the rest she needed) - Ava's not accustomed to keeping watch and she’s the person being escorted, not the person doing the escorting. She throws the last stick into her pile, gets up from her seat to wake Zari up, then goes over to Ava, now half asleep.

“C’mon sleepyhead, it’s time for bed,” she says, grabbing one of Ava’s arms.

Ava’s eyes fly open, but she doesn’t protest as Sara drags her to her feet and pushes her over to her bedroll, just lets Sara guide her down onto it. Sara makes her own bedroll ready, is just about to lie down on it when her eyes find Ava, still shaking. She sighs, shakes her head, then drags her own bedroll next to Ava’s. She lies down and turns to face Ava. She gives what she thinks is an absurd idea one last thought before Ava’s shivering interrupts her and she shakes her head again as she reaches an arm out, letting it rest on Ava’s waist. Ava’s whole body tenses.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I was thinking that I shouldn’t let you die of cold in your sleep. And don’t deny that you’re cold, you’ve been freezing all through our watch.” Ava sighs and shifts slightly closer to Sara, allowing her to slide her arm across Ava’s waist. “You know, body heat shares even better without any layers.”

“I’ll take the cold,” Ava huffs, starting to move away from Sara again.

“Relax, I was joking. Mostly.” Ava stops and Sara’s pretty sure she’s going to move away, but then she sighs loud enough for Sara to hear, and shuffles back, closer than she was earlier. Her body’s completely tense as Sara puts her arm around her waist again, pulling her slightly closer so there’s only a couple of inches of air between them. After about a minute Ava slightly relaxes, and not long after Sara catches the sound of her breath evening out, signaling she’s asleep. Sara releases a breath before she finally lets sleep catch her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small update on how much I have as a buffer: not counting the three chapters I've posted I've got four more chapters waiting to be posted and will hopefully have a couple more done by the time those get posted. I think in total this fic is gonna be around ten chapters give or take one or two.   
> Hope you guys are still enjoying it!


	4. Chapter 4

When Sara wakes up it’s with empty arms. She’d have thought last night a dream if not for the bedroll still lain out next to her, touching her own. She sits up to see Zari still sleeping, right next to where Amaya’s sitting, has been sitting through all of her watch, Amaya’s hands absentmindedly playing with Zari's hair. She turns her head and finds Gary and Ava eating breakfast on the other end of the camp from Sara. She watches them for a sleepy second, and Ava turns her head, catches Sara staring, but ignores it, turns her attention to Zari who’s just now starting to stir. Sara shakes the sleepiness out of her head and gets started on packing up her bedroll. The rest of the morning goes by quickly and soon enough they’re back on the road.

 

When they stop for dinner, Sara’s hands are itching. Hunting has never been something she’s overly enjoyed doing but Ava refusing to let her do it for the past two days has made her more eager than ever to do it. The moment her legs hit the ground she gets started on getting her bow and quiver loose from Gideon's saddle. She leaves the group with an order to take care of the horses and to not leave Ava out of their sight. To her surprise and annoyance Ava ignores her orders and follow her not soon after (she’s not so much surprised by the former). There’s a bow in her hands that Sara recognizes as Zari’s.

“What are you doing, I thought you didn’t like hunting?”

“I never said that.”

“You’ve been pretty insistent on no hunting.”

“I don’t like extending our journey any more than we have to.”

“What, scared Prince John will choose someone else if you don’t hurry?”

“If only,” Ava says, hint of longing in her voice, averting her gaze from Sara. “And not particularly, no, we weren’t exactly given a choice.”

Sara’s about to reply when Ava’s hand comes up in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. When she opens her mouth to talk Ava puts a hand on top of it and uses her other hand to point somewhere in front of them. Annoyance flares up in Sara before her eyes follow Ava's finger and she spots two decently sized birds just a few feet away. 

“I’ll take the one on the right, and you take the one on the left?” Ava says, pulling an arrow out of her borrowed quiver. Sara nods and readies her own bow, nocking an arrow. She turns to Ava when both their bows are drawn. They share a look and release their arrows at the same time, both hitting their target. 

“I’ve seen better,” Ava remarks as they approach the birds, voice as serious ever but her eyes teasing.

“You’re a decent shot, for a royal,” Sara shoots back. 

Ava rolls her eyes and Sara bumps her shoulder into Ava’s. They pick up the birds and make their way back to the others in companionable silence. Sara doesn’t miss the fact that it’s the first time they’ve been alone together where they haven’t been arguing. Not that it lasts long as the moment they start preparing the birds for cooking Ava points out every way she thinks Sara is doing it wrong and inefficiently.

 

That following night Ava, unsurprisingly, insists on staying awake during Sara’s watch again. She sits on the opposite end of camp, again, pretending the cold and call for sleep aren’t getting to her. Sara’s sharpened two sticks by the time she lets out a sigh and puts down her knife, reaching into her bag for another knife. She picks up a stick and makes her way over to Ava.

“Have you ever whittled before?” she asks as she sits down next to Ava.

Ava furrows her brow. “No, I was taught to fight, not play with sticks.”

Sara rolls her eyes. “Try it, it’ll keep the sleepiness at bay if you have something to do.”

Ava sighs and reluctantly takes the stick and knife. When she has them in her hands she just kind of stares at them, seemingly not knowing where to start.

“First thing you want to do is keep the sharp end away from you,” Sara says with a smirk, earning her an eye roll from Ava. “Here,” she says, reaching for Ava’s hands with her own.

“What are you-”

“I’m showing you how to do it.”

“I’m not a child, Sara, just tell me how to start and I’ll figure it out.” Sara’s hands pause, she doesn’t know why Ava using her first name has an effect on her but it’s like her brain stops working for a second as she processes it. “Just forget it,” Ava says when Sara doesn’t do anything, letting the knife and stick drop to the ground. 

Sara shakes her head, wills her brain to work. She opens her mouth to speak, but sighs and closes it when she realizes Ava’s gone back to ignoring her. She moves back to her own spot in the camp, picks up her knife and a fresh stick and tunes Ava out as she keeps a watchful eye on their surroundings.

A little while later Ava sits down next to her.

“Fine,” she says, her tone the one of a reluctant child. “Show me how to do the thing you do.”

“I do many things, you’ll have to be more specific,” Sara smirks. Ava gives her an unamused look.

“Show me how to whittle,” she orders, jaw clenched.

“Since you asked so nicely,” Sara says, voice dripping with sarcasm. She once more reaches for Ava’s hands, and this time Ava lets her. “First thing you want to do is not hold on to the knife like your life depends on it.” She pries Ava’s hand open, eases it into a more controlled grip on the knife. She then holds around Ava’s hand, and uses her other to hand to reach for the one holding the stick. She holds up the stick and gently guides Ava’s knife wielding hand on top of it, talking about what she’s doing as she’s taking Ava’s hands through the motions. Ava quickly learns what to do and how to do it, and before long she’s doing it all on her own. Sara’s surprised to find herself missing the contact when she lets go of Ava’s hands - not that she’d ever admit it - and even more surprised when Ava doesn’t move away, keeps sitting next to Sara, working on her own pile, their thighs touching. They spend the rest of the watch in companionable silence. Sara surprisingly finds she doesn’t mind sharing her watch with Ava, a feat only accomplished by one other person.

When their watch ends Sara wordlessly places her bedroll next to Ava’s again. Ava’s shivering before she’s even lain down. This time she doesn’t protest when Sara wraps an arm around her waist, just shuffles back a few inches to be closer to Sara’s warmth.

Sara wakes up due to Amaya shaking her shoulder. She blinks her eyes open and rolls onto her back, letting go of her hold on Ava. As soon as she does so, Ava begins to stir as well.

_ “Bandits,” _ Amaya mouths, before she leaves to wake Zari and Gary.

Sara quietly locates her sword, finding it right next to her bedroll. When she looks at Ava there’s something glinting in the moonlight in her hands. Sara realizes in the back of her mind that Ava had held on to the knife that Sara had given her during their watch. Sara quietly rises to her feet, easily blends in with the shadows of the night. Someone releases an arrow that lands right where Sara had been sleeping only moments ago. A second later, three bandits charge through the trees, sword in hand. Sara reaches for one of the smaller knives she keeps on her person, throws it the moment she’s gotten it free. It embeds itself in the chest of one of the bandits, the bandit falling to the ground. Three more bandits come through the trees on the other side of their camp, Amaya and Zari immediately working together to take them down. Sara briefly registers Gary cowering in the middle of camp. One of the bandits tries to swing at Ava but Ava dodges out of the way just as Sara steps forward and slashes their arm with her sword.

“Stay close,” she tells Ava, before focusing on the two bandits left on their side. Ava nods and holds her knife up in front of her. Someone tries to hit her but she easily deflects the sword with her own. Beside her Ava dodges another blow and slashes her own attacker with her knife, making the bandit stagger back a few steps. Sara’s bandit charges her again, and this time Sara side steps out of the way, making the bandit almost fall over with their own momentum. Ava turns to them and forces her knife into their shoulder, the bandit falling to the ground in pain. When her back is turned, the other bandit recovers from their stagger and charges at Ava, but Sara steps in front of her, sword raised, blocking the blow. She swings her sword at them, forces them backwards, until they hit a tree. Sara brings her sword up to their throat, and the bandit drops their weapon, raises their hands above their head. Sara turns to survey the camp, there’s the bandit she killed when they first attacked, the bandit Ava wounded, and out of the three bandits on Zari and Amaya’s side, two lay dead in the forest line, and the last one is scrambling away from them on the ground, Zari pointing an arrow at their chest.

“Leave, or you’ll end up like your friends,” Sara calls, loud enough for all of them to hear. She takes a step back but keeps her sword aimed at the bandit in front of her. All three of them scramble to run away, not caring to try and pick up their discarded weapons before they flee.

“And that, princess, is why we keep watch,” Sara says smugly, turning to look at Ava. Ava rolls her eyes, wipes her knife on the ground. Sara’s eyes turn to the boy still cowering on the ground. “Don’t worry, Gary, we got ‘em.”

“I-I wasn’t scared,” Gary says unconvincingly, standing up on shaky feet.

“Sure you weren’t,” Sara says as she rummages through her backpack for her waterskin. “It’ll be light soon, no use going back to sleep.”

 


	5. Chapter 5

By the time they pack up camp the first few rays of light have started breaking up the night. The sun, however, is nowhere to be found, covered by a thick layer of clouds. The longer they travel the darker the clouds become, until two hours in a light drizzle starts. Ava makes a displeased sound to Sara’s side. 

“What’s the matter princess, scared of a little rain?”

“No.” Ava rolls her eyes. “That doesn’t mean I’m fond of getting me and all my things soaked through.”

“Please, at most this’ll make your hair damp.” As soon as Sara’s uttered the words the rain gets heavier and the wind picks up around them. 

“You were saying?” Ava asks, one eyebrow raised. 

Sara sighs. “Let’s look for shelter.”

It takes a while for them to find anything but mud and trees. By the time they do all of them are completely soaked through and shivering atop their horses. They find a small house with a stable a little off the road. Sara jumps off Gideon the moment they’re close and knocks on the door, but no one answers. She tries the door and finds it unlocked. 

“Hello?” she calls, taking a step inside. She gets no answer and does a quick search of the house, finding it seemingly empty. She quickly makes her way back to her traveling companions. 

“There’s no one home, we’ll wait out the storm here,” she says, standing in the doorway of the house.

“We’ll get the horses settled in the stables, if it’s dry I might stay with them, to keep them calm,” Amaya says, nodding at Zari to follow.

“Can i come?” Gary asks excitedly.

“Of course,” Amaya says, before sending a questioning stare Ava’s way. Ava nods and gives the reins of her horse to Gary before hurriedly making her way over to the house.

When both Sara and Ava are safely inside and the door is closed Sara immediately starts to strip out of her wet clothes, leaving her in only her smallclothes. When she turns to Ava she's staring at her with wide eyes and her mouth open.

“Something wrong?” Sara asks, hint of a smirk on her lips.

“Nope, everything’s great,” Ava coughs, turning her head away from Sara.

“Okay. I think I saw a blanket in one of the rooms, I’m gonna go find it. You should see if you can get a fire started. Oh, and you should probably get out of those wet clothes, they’ll only make you colder.” Ava makes a choking noise and nods, avidly looking anywhere but at Sara.

Sara shrugs and wanders off in search of blankets. She wraps her arms around herself, the cold starting to settle as the wind grows ever colder, even inside the wooden walls of the house. She only finds one blanket. She wraps it around herself and wanders into the house’s kitchen, finding cheese and bread no older than a day. She also finds an empty kettle and a small container of tea. She brings all of it with her back to Ava. When she makes it to the doorway to the living room she stops in her tracks, almost loses her grip on the items in her hands. Ava’s sitting in front of the fireplace, one arm wrapped around her and the other poking the growing fire, in nothing but her smallclothes, her wet hair resting across her back, free from the bun Ava always keeps it in. She stands there for what feels like hours, unable to keep her eyes from mapping every visible inch of Ava’s body, until Ava lets out a triumphant sound and looks up from the fire, catching Sara staring. 

Sara clears her throat and averts her gaze, stares avidly at the bedrolls laid out to the side of the fireplace. “I found a blanket and some food,” she says, letting the blanket fall away from one of her arms, revealing their contents.

“You’re stealing their food?” Ava asks, guilt evident on her face.

“Would you rather we starve?” Sara rolls her eyes when Ava doesn’t respond. “There’s more food in the kitchen, we’ll leave a few gold pieces as thanks for staying here.” Ava nods, her face just a bit less guilty.

There’s a sound of something falling outside as the wind and rain pick up in speed. The air grows even colder and Sara hurries over to Ava. She drops the blanket next to her on the ground and locates her backpack, pulling out her waterskin and emptying its contents in the kettle.

“You only found one blanket?” Ava asks warily as Sara adds some tea to the kettle.

“Yeah, guess we’ll have to share,” Sara says with a shrug.

“Right,” Ava says, gingerly picking the blanket up from the floor. Sara hangs the kettle over the fire and looks at Ava and the blanket in her hands. The blanket isn’t big enough to accommodate both of them sitting side by side. Before she gets a chance to give it a second thought Sara sits down right in between Ava’s legs. 

“What are yo-”

“Are you gonna wrap the blanket around us or are we gonna freeze to death?” Sara looks at Ava over her shoulder and sees conflict on her face, before Ava finally lifts the blanket up to wrap around her shoulders and scoots a little closer to Sara. Sara leans back against her, shivers when so much of her skin touches Ava’s, her body seeking Ava’s warmth. Ava wraps the blanket around the both of them and Sara grabs the edges of the blanket from Ava’s hands, holding it more securely around them. Ava appears at a loss for what to do with her now free hands, in the end just lets them fall to Sara’s thighs. Sara rests her head on Ava’s shoulder and sighs as she feels a little bit of warmth return to her body. They stay like that for a few minutes, just fighting the cold and slowly getting warmer, and Sara grows increasingly aware of the hands on her thighs, mind wandering to something else they could do to stay warm. The kettle whistling to signal their tea is done saves her from those thoughts and she reluctantly leans forward to take the kettle away from the fire, regretting the decision the moment her hand leaves the blanket and is met with the cold air. She quickly fills two cups with the tea, takes a sip of one and offers the other to Ava. Ava starts shivering against her back and Sara puts the cups down on the floor then leans back against Ava, wrapping the blanket securely around them again.

They sit in silence for a while, before the quiet starts getting to Sara. “Why are you marrying Prince John when it’s so obvious you don’t like him?” she asks, for lack of a better subject and a need to satiate her curiosity. Ava tenses against her.

“I don’t-”

“Please, you look like you’re gonna get sick every time I mention him.”

Ava sighs. “It doesn’t matter what I feel, marrying Prince John is what’s best for the kingdom.”

“Fuck that, you shouldn’t marry someone just because it’s easier than actually putting effort into creating an alliance.”

“Sara-” Ava tries, exasperation in her voice, but Sara ignores it and continues.

“Do you know how fragile alliances made through marriage are? All it takes is one accident, a sickness, or a well placed assassin and the whole alliance goes up in flames, just because people can’t be bothered to actually work together.” 

Ava tightens her arms around Sara’s stomach and clenches her jaw. When she speaks her voice is tinged with sadness. “It doesn’t matter, this is what our fathers decided. Why do you even care? You’re just here because Lord Hunter asked you to.” 

Sara swallows. She doesn’t care, she just needed something to fill the silence, she couldn’t care less about what Ava decides to do. 

“Should we check on the others?” Ava asks a little while later, the storm showing no sign of stopping.

“We just got dry and you wanna go out there and get wet again?” Ava worries her lower lip and makes an intelligible sound. Sara sighs. “Amaya will want to stay with the horses and make sure they’re okay, Zari will want to stay with Amaya, and do you honestly think Gary’s gonna cross the storm on his own? They’ll be fine.”

“As long as you’re sure.” Ava relaxes more against her. The arms wrapped around Sara’s belly loosens their grip until they’re more resting against it than holding on to it. She rests her head on Sara’s shoulder and one of her thumbs start softly rubbing circles on Sara’s skin. Sara’s not sure if she does it as a comfort, isn’t aware that she’s doing it, or does it for some other reason, but Sara happily accepts it either way, relaxing even more in Ava’s embrace.

“Humor me,” Sara says, distractedly picking on one of the edges of the blanket. Ava makes a noise to tell her to go on. “If no one picked for you, any special guy back home you’d marry?”

Ava snorts. “I’m not really the husband kind.” The moment the words leave her mouth Ava tenses again, pulls her head away from Sara’s shoulder, the thumb on Sara’s belly ceasing all movement.

In an effort to calm Ava that Sara can’t explain - if anyone asks she’ll blame the cold - she holds the blanket closed with one hand and wraps the other around one of Ava’s resting on her stomach. She turns Ava’s hand around so the back of it rests against Sara and starts absentmindedly drawing patterns in its palm.

“How much did Rip tell you about my past, before I met him?”

“Not much, only that you were recruited into the league at a young age and that you’re one of the few people who’s managed to escape them.”

Sara nods, then lets out a long breath. “I did a lot of bad things under the league. Somehow I also managed to fall in love, my one light in a sea of darkness. When I left the league I also left  _ her _ . She had to stay, I think she might be making it better, but I can’t be a part of that life.” Sara looks into the fire as she finishes, blinks away wetness in her eyes she hadn’t realized was there.

“I’m sorry,” Ava says, wrapping her arm tighter around her comfortingly. 

“I’d rather have loved and lost than marry someone I could never love.” Ava sighs and buries her head in Sara’s neck. “I’m not gonna tell you not go through with it and that I think it’s a stupid ass idea-”

“You just did,” Ava points out, breath tickling Sara’s neck.

Sara’s fingers stop drawing patterns on Ava’s hand. She splays her hand against Ava’s and intertwines their fingers, pulling Ava’s arm more tightly around her. “Forget I said anything,” Sara sighs, closing her eyes.

After that they just sit wrapped up in each other’s warmth, the only sounds coming from the wind and the crackling of the fire, and complete darkness around them apart from the low light coming from the flames. After what might be minutes or might be hours, Sara’s not sure, Ava yawns and Sara feels her own eyes start to droop.

“We should probably get our bed rolls ready, hopefully they’ll be dry by now.” Sara starts to part the blanket and Ava immediately protests, pulling Sara tightly to her. “You’re gonna regret it in the morning if we wake up on the floor.” Sara sighs, gently prying Ava’s arms away from her stomach. Ava makes another sound of protest but allows Sara to escape her embrace, immediately wrapping the blanket around herself when Sara’s no longer in it. Sara rolls her eyes and stretches as she gets to her feet. When she looks down at Ava she finds Ava’s sleepy eyes glued to her body. Her thoughts flick again to what they could be doing to keep warm that isn’t just sitting around, but she shakes the thought away and forces her eyes over to the bedrolls.

“I’m gonna need you to move a little.” 

Ava groans but does as she’s told, moving enough that Sara can pull the now dry bedrolls completely in front of the fire. She wraps her arms around herself as the cold air starts getting to her once more, turns to look expectantly at Ava. Ava’s eyes are still unapologetically looking at her and Sara shakes her head.

“Please lie down and stop hogging the blanket,” she says when Ava doesn’t show any signs of moving, more an order than a request. Ava finally seems to break out of her trance and Sara thinks she sees a light pink color on her cheeks as she finally moves to lay down. Sara sighs and lays down behind her, lifts up the blanket so she can sneak underneath it, and wraps an arm around Ava’s waist to pull her close. It doesn’t take them long to fall asleep, both exhausted from the cold and as comfortable as they can be, wrapped up in each other.


	6. Chapter 6

Sara groans at the sound of the door being swung open and feet stepping inside the house. She blinks her eyes open and sticks an experimental hand outside the blanket. Pleased when her hand meets air that’s much warmer than when she went to sleep, she completely untangles herself from Ava and the blanket. The moment she’s no longer inside it Ava wraps the blanket completely around herself. Sara tries to stop herself from thinking it’s adorable.

“Is there any food in this house?” Zari asks.

“There’s some in the kitchen, make sure there’s something left though, Ava might die if we eat all the food.”

Ava makes an unintelligible sound from where she’s buried in the blanket. Sara holds back a smile as she stands up, stretching as she does so.

“Time to get up,  _ you’re _ the one who’s always complaining we spend too much time not traveling. Oh, also, where’s your waterskin?”

Ava’s head peeks out from underneath the blanket, squinting up at her. “It’s in my backpack, why?”

“Because I’m thirsty and we used all of my water for tea yesterday,” Sara says while crouching in front of Ava’s backpack and rummaging through it. 

Ava makes a sound of protest but Sara just shrugs, already bringing the waterskin to her lips. When she lowers the waterskin she finds Ava staring at her with an unreadable expression. She wipes her lips and throws the waterskin at Ava. Ava looks at it warily, before slowly sticking her arms out from under the blanket to grab the waterskin. Ava sits up and regards it skeptically before, Sara assumes, deciding that Sara’s lips hadn’t tainted it and it’s safe to drink from. Sara rolls her eyes and takes them off of Ava, moves to find some dry clothes to wear instead.

 

The rest of the day passes without incident. What has now become both Sara and Ava’s watch passes mostly in silence. Ava sits down next to Sara, so close that Sara can feel her warmth but not so close they’re touching. There’s a little talking here and there while they both work on each their sticks, but the topics are random and fleeting. When the time comes for Zari’s watch they go to sleep the same way they’ve done the past nights, a habit having formed. The rest of the night passes with as little incident as the day had.

 

The next day passes much the same, their journey uninterrupted. A little before sundown they stop at an inn, a welcome change after spending the past few nights in the forest. They order supper and rooms, one for Sara and Ava, Sara reluctant to let Ava sleep without her, despite the princess’s ability to protect herself, one for Amaya and Zari, and one for Gary. They sit down at the nearest table, exhausted from the day’s ride. When they’re done with their meals, Ava moves to talk to the barkeep. Sara curiously follows her. 

“Is there any chance I can get a bath in the room?” Ava turns to look at Sara then turns back to the barkeep. “Make that two.”

“Are you trying to say I smell?” Sara asks, hand to her chest, mock offended. 

Ava rolls her eyes and scrunches up her face adorably. “We’ve been on the road for six days with only the rain to clean us, of course you smell.”

Sara shrugs. She usually bathes more regularly but traveling as she does she’s no stranger to going days without one, and with Ava insisting they travel as fast as possible taking the long way just to stop at an inn hadn’t been much of an option. The barkeep tells them she’ll send someone in with two tubs and hot water. Ava thanks her and then they move to their room. Sara frowns when she notices the barkeep gave them a room with only one bed, but if she’s being honest the idea of not sleeping close to Ava feels weird. She throws her backpack down by the right side of the bed, before throwing herself down on it. The soft bed is welcoming after nights in the forest and Sara thinks she could have fallen asleep straight away if Ava hadn’t ordered them baths. She remains on the bed as the tubs are brought in and filled up, Ava overseeing everything. 

When the door finally closes, Sara sits up on the bed, met with the sight of Ava undressing. Sara holds her breath as Ava pulls her tunic up above her head, her  leggings  soon following. When Ava’s down to just her smallclothes she turns to catch Sara staring, sudden shyness in her body language. 

“Close your eyes?” she asks hesitantly. 

“You realize you’re the one who ordered us baths right next to each other right?” Sara asks, but does as asked, closes her eyes and lets herself fall back down on the bed. She’s pretty sure that if she hadn’t been asked to look away, Ava wouldn’t have entered the tub alone. She doesn’t sit back up until Ava tells her she can, Ava submerged in the hot water of the tub. Her hair is spread out behind her, the lower half soaked through, and Ava’s eyes are closed as she just enjoys the water. Sara thinks she’s somehow even more gorgeous like this, followed by the thought that if she’s thinking about Ava like this it’s been way too long since she got laid. Part of her wishes she’d gotten Gary to share with Ava so she could find someone of the inn’s patrons to keep her company. 

She starts undressing, removes her belt and tunic, before she glances at Ava again and her mouth lets out words faster than she can think through them. 

“Want me to wash your back?”

Ava freezes in the water, looks hesitantly at Sara, then nods her head and scoots forward in the tub, allowing Sara access to her back. Sara takes a deep breath and kneels next to the tub, grabbing the soap from Ava’s hand. She gently moves her hair out of the way, pushing it over one of her shoulders, and runs her hand across her upper back. She brings the soap up to her back and firmly rubs it in. Ava sighs in content as she finishes. She hands the soap back to her and uses her hands to bring water up her back, washing the soap away. When she’s done she traces a finger down her spine, all the way to the surface of the water. Ava shivers at the action. Sara pulls her hand away and shakily gets up to her feet, looking anywhere but at Ava. 

“Thank you,” Ava says a little awkwardly as she resettles in the water. 

Sara lets out a short affirming sound and starts working on getting rid of the rest of her clothes. When she removes the last piece of clothing she feels eyes on her, but when she turns to Ava she’s determinedly looking straight ahead. Sara shakes her head and gets in her own tub, sighing as she settles in the warm water. She leans back and just stays there for a few minutes, letting the water soak her body. She closes her eyes and thinks she could fall asleep there, almost does until the sound of Ava exiting her tub reaches her ears, making her instinctively open her eyes. When she looks at Ava, now wrapped in a towel, Ava looks at her with curiosity and a hint of something Sara can’t place. Ava worries her lip, looks like she wants to say something. When she doesn’t, Sara shrugs and takes her eyes off of her, reaches for the soap and starts cleaning herself. She can still feel her gaze on her and it makes her fumble more than she should with the soap, her movements suddenly nervous, almost hesitant, under Ava’s curious gaze.  

“Do you want me to do your back?” Ava asks in the end, swallowing as she does so. Sara considers turning the offer down, uncertain of what Ava’s hands on her back might lead to, but she knows she won’t be able to properly clean it herself and she’d feel awkward turning down the same offer that Ava had accepted. She nods over her shoulder. Ava kneels behind her not a second later, accepting the soap that Sara offers and mimics Sara’s movements from earlier. Sara holds back a groan at the contact. Ava’s hands on her skin feel much better than they have any right to. She knows she hasn’t been completely successful when she hears a small chuckle behind her and Ava’s actions grow more confident. She closes her eyes and leans into Ava’s touch, lets her work some of the tension out of her back with the soap. 

“All clean,” Ava says, voice just above a whisper, as she lightly traces patterns on Sara’s back. She smooths her palm on her back and Sara thinks Ava’s as reluctant to break contact as she is, entertains for a moment what would happen if she didn’t pull away, if she moved her hand somewhere else. 

Sara turns to look at her and the slight disturbance of the moment seems to pull Ava out of her trance, quickly retracting her hand and dumping the soap in front of Sara in the tub. Sara turns back around, facing away from her, and finishes cleaning herself, eager to get out of the tub and dressed in  _ something _ , away from the growing temptation that Ava’s turning out to be. Sara thinks she just might have preferred it when they couldn’t stand the sight of the other. 

“I’m gonna go get something to drink,” Sara says while finishing putting on her belt. She’s dressed in less than she was when they got there, clothes that won’t be uncomfortable to sleep in, but she’d feel naked without her ever present sword belt. 

“Want me to come with?” Ava’s already settled into bed and Sara feels slightly guilty for leaving her alone but the last thing she needs is to continue to be close to her. 

“Stay, I’ll be back soon.”

Ava nods. Sara thinks she sees something akin to disappointment on her face but it’s gone in a flash. Sara’s gone the next second, eager to get down to the other patrons of the inn, away from their room. The moment she’s outside the room, a barrier between her and Ava, Sara feels like she can breath again. She tells the barkeep that they're done with their baths, orders a tankard of whatever she can get to the fastest, and sits down in a corner where she has a full view of everyone in the room. There’s a woman sitting by the bar, looking completely out of place. When she catches Sara looking at her she smiles, lets her eyes run down Sara’s body. Sara lets her eyes travel away from her, landing on a man who just entered the room, an intent to his movements as he receives a drink from the barkeep and surveys the room much like Sara. Sara’s certain either of them could give her what she needs to take the edge off. She could be back in her shared room with Ava and still catch a few hours of sleep should she indulge herself. But the more she entertains the thought the more she finds it doesn’t have the appeal it should, and so she finishes her tankard and makes her way back to the room. 

She finds Ava looking at the knife she had given her, holding the hilt in one hand and running the fingers of the other across the blade, the scabbard resting between her crossed legs. At the sound of the door opening Ava points the knife in Sara’s direction, relaxing when she sees Sara. Sara thinks she sees a hint of relief in her eyes. She notes that the tubs have both been cleared out in her absence. 

“I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.” There’s a hint of something in Ava’s voice that Sara can’t quite place but that leaves her feeling just a little guilty as Ava sheaths her knife and places it on the nightstand.  

“I was just getting something to drink.” Sara shrugs. She removes her belt and falls down on the bed next to Ava. “You ready to go to sleep?” Ava nods and Sara turns to face her, reaches an arm out to pull her closer, out of habit. Ava allows herself to be pulled, easily settles in Sara’s embrace. Neither of them need it in the warmth of the inn, but if Ava’s not going to say anything, neither is Sara. Ava puts her hand above Sara’s, as if she’s scared she might let go. Sara pulls her more securely against herself and lets sleep overtake her. 


	7. Chapter 7

“I can gather wood on my own, Sara! I’m not a child, and it’s not like an assassin is going to fall from a tree!”

“I’ll have you know trees are great hiding spots.”

Ava rolls her eyes but Sara can’t find it in herself to care. They’ve stopped to set up camp for the night and Amaya and Zari has volunteered to hunt for supper, leaving Gary to make sure the horses are okay, and Sara and Ava to search for firewood. Except Ava has decided she ‘doesn’t need a babysitter’ and can happily gather firewood on her own. 

“I’m going alone, if you want to gather firewood so bad you can do it far away from me.”

It’s not that Sara doesn’t get wanting to do things on her own, doesn’t get how someone constantly going with you feels too much like being treated like a child, but she’s there to protect Ava, despite how capable Ava is or how harmless the woods around them seems. Not to mention that before waking up this morning they had worked well together, and Ava had wanted to go with Sara when Sara was doing things. Sara can’t help but feel like she’d overstepped yesterday at the inn,  _ knows _ she should have acted differently, but she can’t help feeling a little hurt that Ava wants to stay as far away from her as possible. 

“Fine, don’t blame me if you get murdered by tree assassins.” Sara crosses her arms and turns away from Ava, aware that she’s very much acting like a child. She looks to Zari and Amaya, yet to leave for their hunt. Zari offers her a shrug before they busy themselves with something else, as if they hadn’t been paying attention to her and Ava’s fight. 

Sara intends to let Ava have her way, she really does, but she only lasts for about a minute before boredom overtakes her. She quickly unbuckles her sword belt and leaves it on the ground near camp, and hooks her favorite pair of daggers to her pants. She climbs a nearby tree facing the direction Ava had gone off in and quickly follows, silently jumping from tree to tree. It doesn’t take her long to spot Ava on the ground. She hangs back, she has a good enough view from the high ground the trees offer and she doesn’t want Ava to spot her. 

She follows her for a bit, until Ava’s arms are almost filled with all the firewood they'll need. She’s getting ready to turn back, to make sure she’s back at camp before Ava, when she spots something glinting at Ava’s hips. Focusing her gaze she finds it to originate from the hilt of the knife Sara had given her, hanging neatly from her belt. It gives Sara an idea for something to do that isn’t just going straight back to camp to be bored. She reasons that Zari and Amaya won’t be back from their hunt for a while; she saw the way Amaya looked at Zari before they left, the way Zari’s touch lingered on Amaya’s arm, knows there was a bigger reason behind them wanting to be the ones hunting, and she figures it can only be good for Gary to set up camp by himself, refine those useful survival skills and whatnot. 

So, Sara reasons, they have a lot of time to kill. She smirks down at Ava, moves a little so she has a better vantage point and waits for Ava to pass underneath her. She soundlessly extracts her daggers and falls from the tree when Ava walks underneath it, knocking Ava to the ground with Sara on top of her. All the firewood goes flying as Sara quickly places one dagger on Ava’s throat only to feel something sharp press against her stomach. She looks down to see the knife in Ava’s hand, firmly pressed against her. A small proud smile adorns Sara’s lips.

“Sara, what the hell?” Ava exclaims.

“I got bored,” Sara shrugs as she jumps off of Ava and offers her a hand that Ava begrudgingly accepts. “And I thought it’s about time I see how well you can use that knife.”

“You’ve already seen me use it.”

“Against bandits who barely know how to hold a sword, not against assassins falling from trees.”

Ava rolls her eyes and sighs, but she raises the hand still holding the knife. Sara grins and raises her own daggers. They move to attack at the same time and there’s the sound of metal hitting metal as Sara’s daggers slide against Ava’s knife. Sara takes a step back and Ava follows, attacking with her knife, forcing Sara, not quite expecting the advance, to defend herself and step back even further. Sara’s back hits a tree and Ava’s lips curve up slightly in triumph. Ava’s knife presses against both of Sara’s daggers above her head and Sara focuses all her strength on holding it there. She sees Ava’s eyes flit down to her lips, and Sara’s do the same. It’d be so easy to close the tiny distance between them and Sara curses herself for as much as thinking the thought, curses Ava for being so close and looking so kissable. 

A stick breaks somewhere to Sara’s left and they both turn their heads towards it. Sara rolls her eyes when she spots Gary, mouth hanging open and eyes wide as he takes them in. Sara uses the momentary distraction to headbutt Ava and push against her knife, making Ava stagger back a couple of steps. That makes Ava turn her full attention back to Sara. Ava advances again, swings her knife, but Sara dodges it and spins around Ava, pressing one of her daggers against Ava’s throat. Ava grabs her arm and crouches, throwing Sara over her shoulders until Sara’s back hits the ground. Sara groans, momentarily disoriented. Ava moves to straddle her but Sara manages to kick her in the stomach, sending her staggering back. 

Sara pushes off the ground, jumping to her feet. She suddenly notices that sometime between now and Ava throwing her on the ground she’d lost hold off her daggers. She notices Ava’s hands are equally empty as Ava advances on her once more. Ava’s fist makes contact with her shoulder a second before Sara’s hits her square in the stomach. Sara moves to hit her again but Ava kicks her feet out from underneath her. Sara grabs hold of Ava’s shoulder as she falls, pulling Ava down on top of her. Ava tries to pin her to the ground but Sara’s quicker, turning them over and locking Ava’s hips and legs down with her own. She grabs Ava’s hands and intertwines their fingers, pinning them next to her head. Ava closes her eyes for a moment as she tries to get her breathing under control. Sara swallows as her eyes once more flit to Ava’s lips. She forces her eyes back up to Ava’s. Ava slowly opens her eyes, catching Sara’s gaze. Sara finds herself unable to look away. She swears Ava starts to lift her head up before Gary once more makes his presence known. Sara both curses and thanks him for it. 

“Your highness, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Ava says with a small cough, looking sideways at Gary instead of Sara. She starts to move her arms and Sara relinquishes her hold on them before rolling off of Ava and jumping to her feet. Ava sits up as Sara finds her daggers, putting them back in their resting place. 

“So, what’s the assessment, O great tree assassin?”

“You were okay,” Sara smirks. 

Ava arches an eyebrow at her. “Okay?” Ava asks incredulously. 

“Okay,” Sara confirms, smirk still in place. 

“You’re insufferable,” Ava says, rolling her eyes. Sara shrugs. “Help me gather up the firewood  _ you _ made fall everywhere,” Ava orders. Sara sighs as she gets to work. 

“What happened?” Gary asks concerned, having seemed to finally find his voice again. 

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with,” Sara assures him, dropping what firewood she had gathered in his arms and patting him on the shoulder. “Come on, we should get back to camp.”

They make it back to camp before Amaya and Zari. Sara busies herself with starting a fire while Ava and Gary make a ring around the fire out of their bedrolls. Sara’s just sat down on her bedroll when Amaya and Zari break through the trees around them, a rabbit in one of Zari’s hands, the other holding Amaya’s. She pulls her hand back when they’re properly in the camp, hands the rabbit to Amaya and moves to deposit their weapons while Amaya gets started on preparing their dinner.

“You guys have fun out hunting?” Sara asks with a smirk.

“It was nice,” Amaya answers with a small smile as Zari looks at her with an unamused glare.

“Did you have any trouble gathering firewood?” Zari asks, her eyes switching to amusement as she takes in their disheveled appearances. 

“The forest has a small tree assassin infestation problem,” Ava says with an amused smile as she glances over at Sara. Sara finds herself unable not to return the smile.

The camp falls into silence as they wait for their dinner to cook. Supper goes by quickly and soon Sara and Ava are the only ones awake. Sara drags her bedroll up to a nearby log so she can sit on the bedroll and lean her back on the log. Ava sits down beside her, not bothering to bring over her own bedroll, instead using the other half of Sara’s.

“I’m sorry I didn’t let you go alone before,” Sara sighs as she fidgets with a rock.

“I’m sorry I wouldn’t let you come with. It’s just ever since the inn I-” Ava stops herself, looks away from Sara. After a moment she sighs. “I just needed some time to clear my head.”

Sara nods, presumes that Ava meant that Sara had been too much, and then neither of them speak for a while. Sara stares into the fire as she mindlessly starts whittling to pass the time.

“There was one, well two but I was a bit young for the first one.” Sara abruptly stops her hand’s movements and looks over at Ava at Ava’s words, a confused look on her face. When she looks at Ava she catches her looking at two of their sleeping companions with longing written all over her face: Amaya is lying with Zari halfway draped across her chest, their legs intertwined and one of Amaya’s arms holding Zari securely to her. Ava forces her eyes away from them and stares right into Sara’s. “You asked me if there was anyone special back home, during the storm.” Realization dawns on Sara at Ava’s words. 

“I think I must have been around 15 when my father introduced me to one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. She was one of my father’s best guards, even though she was only a few years older than me. I used to watch her train with the others. She’d always smile when she caught me staring. I think she thought I was more interested in the fighting than anything else, I don’t even think I really knew that wasn’t the case. She offered to help me refine my fighting skills. Father had had the best trainers he could find teach me before then but none of them quite held my attention like she did. Once or twice I even intentionally held the wrong posture just so she’d correct me.” Ava speaks with a fond smile through most of her story. At the last part her voice turns a bit mischievous, as if intentionally messing up was unimaginable. Sara smiles a little as she thinks of all the things she’s done just to grab the attention of a crush.

“What happened to her?”

“She got command of her own squad and now father has her on missions everywhere, I’ve only seen her a handful of times since I was a child.”

“What about the second one?”

“Lady Ash, the daughter of some noble my father was working closely with one summer. They stayed at the castle for three months and the two of us were greatly encouraged to get to know each other. It didn’t take much to convince us. We spent most of our days glued together. One day, about halfway through summer, we went for a ride. We went far away from any other living soul and had a picnic near a river. She kissed me and immediately after suggested we ride back. I thought she regretted it but she kept taking me out to that spot, now I think she was more afraid that I would regret it. When her family had to go back home it broke my heart. Her family didn’t come to visit again for a few summers and by that time she’d been married and wasn’t among the visitors.”

“That sucks.” 

Ava lets out a humorless laugh, before adorably scrunching up her face. “I doubt we would have lasted even if we were given a proper chance, we wanted very different things, but we were both young and I think experiencing our first proper crush.”

“Still nice to have a chance.” 

Ava shrugs and then they go back to silence. They talk a little here and there about random topics until it’s finally time for Zari’s watch. Sara wakes her up and smiles as Zari tries her best to untangle herself from Amaya without waking her up. She turns around to see Ava already having laid their bedrolls in the usual spots. Ava’s lying on her back, looking expectantly up at Sara, and Sara shakes her head with a smile as she makes her way over to her. When she lies down beside her, Ava immediately rolls over on her side so Sara can wrap an arm around her. Ava once more covers Sara’s hand with her own, just as she’d done at the inn, and Sara tries not to think on the gesture as she lets sleep overtake her.


	8. Chapter 8

"Ugh, I need a bath again. I can't believe you made me roll around on the ground. Who starts a fight not even a full day after getting a bath," Ava complains, packing up the last parts of camp.

"You were the one who threw me on the ground," Sara says with a shrug.

"You jumped me from a tree, pushing me to the ground first, insisting on a fight!"

"But I didn't make us roll around in the dirt," Sara points out. Ava only huffs in response, making Sara roll her eyes. "Just admit that you had fun and that rolling around in the dirt isn't the worst thing you could do."

"It is when there's nowhere to bathe."

Sara jumps on Gideon, not bothering to give a reply. Ava’s words do, however, get her thinking of something she discovered the last time she was in the area.

 

They come across the place just in time for dinner. They settle in a small clearing a little ways off the road. The clearing, however, is not what Sara came for. She excuses herself and Ava from the group, leaving the rest of them to prepare dinner. Ava seems hesitant to follow her when Sara refuses to say where they’re going, but she follows anyway, being dragged along by Sara’s hand in hers.

“It’s been a while but it should be right around here somewhere,” Sara says, biting her lip as she looks around them.

“Or maybe you remember wrong and we’re lost.”

“Oh come on, stop being so negative.” Sara turns around to face her, smiling brightly.

Ava’s eyes are narrowed but her lip twitches slightly when she looks at Sara’s face. She tries to cross her arms but ends up with one arm awkwardly slung across her chest, the other still firmly held by Sara.

“When were you even here?” Ava asks in the end, sighing.

“I traveled a lot before I met Rip. Spent a decent amount of time around here. Come on, I _think_ it’s this way.” She just notices Ava shake her head and relax her arm before she turns around and pulls on her hand, dragging her deeper into the forest.

“I’m telling you, we’re lo-” Ava stops talking when they finally break through the tree line, arriving at a big open space with a lake smack in the middle.

Sara turns to her with her a smug smile. “What was that?”

“Where are we?”

“You said you needed a bath. The nearest inn is still about a day away, so I thought I’d give you the next best thing.”

“Oh.” Ava looks at her with an expression she can’t decipher but leaves her feeling anxious that taking her here was the wrong decision.

“What’s the matter? Don’t know how to swim?” she jokes, trying to lighten the mood. Ava rolls her eyes, and Sara’s relieved at the familiar action.

“I know how to swim,” Ava protests.

“Okay,” Sara says, still a teasing lilt to her voice.

She shrugs and untangles her fingers from Ava’s, walking up to the edge of the lake. She undresses quickly, eager to be in the water. She looks at Ava over her shoulder. At the action, Ava’s head turns away from her, pretending not to have been watching. Sara smirks. She looks  back at the water, takes a breath, and runs the remaining distance to the edge of the small cliff. She jumps off and spins in the air, before straightening out her limbs, easily breaching the surface of the water. She lets her momentum take her deeper into the water, reveling in the feeling of being completely submerged, before finally making her way back up. With her head above water she searches for Ava, finding her where Sara had undressed, still fully clothed.

“The water’s lovely,” she calls, swimming a little closer. She sees Ava sigh before she starts undressing. Ava stops when she’s taken of everything but her underclothes, looking like she’s about to take off towards the water.

“You’re gonna regret those wet clothes later.” Ava stops, and Sara’s more pleased than she should be when her hands come up to the rest of her clothes. Ava hesitates. Sara turns around, starts swimming away from her. She turns back around when she hears the splash of Ava entering the water. Sara’s thankful for the sun reflecting off the water's surface when her eyes involuntarily drop lower, making it so all she can make out is Ava’s head. Maybe a swim hadn’t been the best idea.

“I’ll race you to the other side,” Sara challenges, already turning around in the water, not waiting for Ava’s response. She hears splashing coming from behind her and assumes Ava's followed her anyway.

They make it about halfway across the lake before Sara hears a shriek originating behind her. She turns around with quick motions, searching for danger. All she finds is a wide eyed Ava, and she immediately swims towards her.

“What happened?” she asks, reaching her hands out for Ava, trying to make sure she’s not hurt.

“Something touched my foot,” she fretted, drawing her feet closer to herself underneath the water.

Sara frowns, takes a deep breath, and submerges herself in the water. She easily spots what must have touched her; one of the taller plants in the lake stands proud just a couple inches away from Ava’s body. As she breaches the surface of the water again, Sara can’t hold back a laugh. Ava looks at her with a puzzled expression.

“I see why you’re so worried, the local plant life can be very dangerous to the heir of the throne,” Sara says, trying, and failing, to be serious, unable to hold back a giggle out of her voice.

Ava’s face turns up in disgust. She reaches a hand out to lightly hit Sara’s shoulder. “This isn’t funny!” she exclaims, her cheeks flushing.

“Of course not, it’s very serious,” Sara nods, still the hint of a giggle in her voice. “Come on, let’s get you back to the safety of land.”

Ava huffs indignantly as Sara grabs her hand, pulling her towards the shore. She keeps looking at Ava over her shoulder, feeling slightly worried that danger might be lurking after Ava’s shriek. She doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary. She curses when her back unexpectedly hits something solid behind her, too busy looking at Ava to notice how close they’d come to the shore. She jerks her hand at the impact, unintentionally pulling Ava closer. Ava’s hand that’s not in Sara’s braces itself against the stone next to Sara’s face as Sara’s unoccupied hand rests itself on Ava’s waist to keep them from crashing into each other.

Ava’s body stops only a couple of inches away from her. Sara swallows at their closeness. Swimming had definitely been a mistake. Ava’s hand slides from the rock to Sara’s shoulder. Sara’s breath catches in her throat. She lets go of Ava’s hand, moves her own to rest on the top of her arm instead, right underneath her shoulder. Ava’s body travels an inch closer, the hand on Sara’s shoulder moving to her neck. Sara’s eyes fall to her lips, that are currently partly parted. Not for the first time she imagines what they’d taste like. Ava’s head starts leaning forward and Sara’s tongue comes out to wet her lips. Sara closes her eyes, waits for a kiss that never comes.

Instead, Ava jumps away from her as the sound of footsteps and yelling breaks through their bubble. Sara’s hands drop to her side as she turns around to locate the intruder. She sighs as her eyes land on Gary.

“There was an attack! Bandits!” he says, out of breath, hands on his knees.

Sara lets out a curse under her breath as she pulls herself out of the water. She turns around and offers Ava a hand, which she accepts with a small smile. For a moment, as she helps pull her out of the water, Sara finds herself getting lost in her smile, forgetting about Gary’s words. Until Ava clears her throat and turns her eyes to Gary, forcing Sara to remember where they are and what had happened. She turns to Gary and finds him standing with his back turned to them and his hands in front of his face. She shakes her head a little as she locates her clothes and starts getting dressed.

“What happened, exactly? Is everyone okay?”

“No one got hurt and, uh, not,” Gary swallows, “almost nothing was lost…”

“But something was?” Ava asks, sighing as she pulls on the last of her clothing. “Gary, turn around.” The boy does as asked.

“Your horse, your highness, the attack happened so fast and somehow she lost her saddle and she ran away in the mess, we couldn’t find her. I’m sorry.” Gary looks down at his feet, twirling his hands in front of him.

“Oh,” Ava lets out sadly. “It’s okay Gary, it’s not your fault.”

Sara puts what she hopes is a comforting hand on Ava’s arm. “But everyone and everything else is okay?”

Gary nods. “Zari and Amaya scared the bandits off!”

They walk back to camp quickly. True to Gary’s word, not much damage was done, save for one horse missing, its saddle lying ruined on the ground. Ava lets out a strangled sob when she sees it. She rearranges most of her bags over to Gary’s horse before they all eat a quick dinner. When they’re done there’s still a couple of hours of light left to travel in. Sara jumps on Gideon and walks her over to where Ava is standing.

“Guess you’re riding with me, princess,” she says, extending her hand.

Ava eyes her hand hesitantly before accepting it, jumping up behind Sara. She places her hand lightly on Sara’s sides, leaning her body as far away from Sara’s as she can without falling off. Sara rolls her eyes.

“Let’s go!” she calls over her shoulder, already making Gideon pick up her speed. Ava’s hands tighten on her sides, but she’s still staying as far away from her as she can. Sara spots a log in their path and smirks, maneuvering Gideon so it’s straight in their path. Gideon easily jumps over it. Ava yelps and slides her arms around Sara’s waist, pushing her body against her back. A satisfied smile adorns Sara’s lips as they continue on their path.

 

Night falls, and Sara and Ava settle down for their usual watch. It starts much the same as the others, the two sitting close to each other, working on each their pile of sticks. It changes when Sara picks up on some rustling in the bushes. She’s on her feet before she’s processed it, her knife no longer in her hand, instead embedded in whatever had made the noise.

“What is it?” Ava whispers, standing up next to her.

Sara doesn’t answer, just walks quickly and quietly over to the bush. Ava follows her. She kicks around in the bush until something falls out. She sighs when she sees the small rabbit her knife is lodged in.

“Congrats, you saved us from the mean rabbits,” Ava says with a hint of amusement.

“Sorry,” Sara murmurs, crouching to pull out the knife. She throws the rabbit a decent way away from them before making her way back to Ava, who’s already sitting on the rock they’d deemed comfortable enough for their watch. Instead of rejoining her on the rock, Sara sits down in front of her, leaning her head against the rock next to Ava’s leg.

“I wasn’t always like this,” she says, cleaning her knife on the ground beside her. Ava makes a sound, encouraging her to go on. “Once upon a time I was a normal village girl. I had a normal family, the biggest thing on my mind was how to impress the person I liked…” Sara pauses when Ava’s hand absentmindedly makes its way to her head, gently playing with her hair. She leans into the touch as she continues.

“Everything was normal until I decided to run away with a noble’s son. It wasn’t supposed to be for long but we got lost in the forest a long way from the village, and then we lost track of each other. A group of bandits found me. They could have killed me, or worse, but in exchange for my safety the leader took me as his personal assistant. I helped him do terrible things, too scared that if I didn’t, I would be next. Bad things happened to them in the end, and I was once more left to defend for myself. I don’t know how long I walked around alone. I didn’t have any experience surviving on my own and it didn’t take long until I was too weak to move.”

Sara pauses, leans her head back against Ava’s thigh, and closes her eyes. “That’s when she found me. I don’t remember a lot, just glimpses of her nurturing me back to health. She had to take me to the league to do it. The league asked me to do even more terrible things, and I did them all, no questions asked. Nyssa’s the only reason I got through any of it.” Ava’s other hand joins the first in Sara’s hair, moving with more purpose than her single hand had done. Sara starts to fidget with her knife, eyes locked on it as she tries to focus on the feel of Ava’s fingers in her hair.

“After years of doing their bidding, I heard about an accident in my home village. In the league your only family is the people around you, your old life forgotten. But I couldn’t forget, and when I heard about it I had to make sure my family was safe. After I left I couldn’t bring myself to go back, couldn’t take more of the darkness. But I couldn’t stay with my family either, couldn’t bring my darkness into their life, or risk the league hurting them.” She pauses again, tries to focus solely on Ava’s hands. With a start she realizes the familiar movements her fingers are executing is due to Ava braiding her hair. She doesn’t know why this discovery shocks her.

“I wandered around with not much of a destination in mind for a while, helped people where I could, used the skills the league taught me for something better. And then Rip found me, offered me a place I could belong, filled with people who didn’t know what to do with themselves. The knighthood was a way to make my ‘transition to good’ more binding, like a title would make me feel more at home. My team did that on all their own. I don’t know where I’d be without them.” Sara pauses again, for longer this time, before she turns around slightly, careful not to disturb Ava’s hands too much.

“Where’d you learn how to braid, anyway?” she asks, eager to change the subject.

Ava lets out a small laugh at the unexpectedness of the subject. “My mom taught it to me. Every day she used to braid my hair, and I’d braid hers right after. They looked terrible, but my mom wore them anyway, even to important court meetings. I got better at them, over the years. Then she died.” Ava’s hands falter, smoothing out the edge of Sara’s braid. “A maid tried to braid my hair before her funeral. I furiously undid it, refused to wear it that way without my mom’s hair matching it. Another maid took over, put my hair up in a bun instead, and I’ve been wearing it that way ever since.” Ava pauses, brings a hand up to her own hair, currently flowing freely over her shoulder. “Well, mostly ever since.”

Sara turns around fully, looks up at Ava as she runs a hand over her newly made braid. “Do you want me to braid yours?” She doesn’t know why she’d ever think that Ava would accept the offer.

“I’d like that,” Ava admitted quietly. Sara can’t put a name on the warmth that spreads through her at the words.

They quickly switch positions, Sara on the rock and Ava sitting in front of her. They talk animatedly between themselves as Sara’s skilled fingers works on Ava’s hair. When Ava’s braid is done, Sara’s hands fall to Ava’s shoulders, messing with the fabric of her tunic. Ava rests her head against Sara’s thigh as they continue talking. Not for the first time Sara’s taken aback by how comfortable she is with Ava.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't hate on my boy Gary, he's only trying to do his job :p


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise update to ring in the new year with a bang!  
> Happy new year!

The next day’s ride goes be swiftly and without incident. Ava rides with Sara again, more comfortable with the position from the start, as opposed to the day before. They're both still wearing their braids from the night before. Both of them are messy from sleep but Sara finds she doesn’t mind, just knows she wants to keep it for as long as she can. She imagines Ava must feel somewhat same. They only ride until twilight, stopping in a small town. The streets are still busy as they make their way through them.

“Why are we stopping already?” Ava asks as she slides off of Gideon.

“You wanted an inn,” Sara shrugs, following her down.

“Not if it’s going to add even more to our journey.”

Sara sighs. “Look, the castle is less than a day’s ride from here, close enough that we’ll get there tomorrow, but far enough away that we won’t get there today. I thought you’d appreciate the inn.” Sara shrugs again, as if to dismiss the fact that she’s doing this for Ava.

“Thank you,” Ava says with a shy smile.

“Are we going to enter or what? I’m starving!” Zari announces, showing up at Sara’s side. Sara shakes her head and hands Gideon’s reins to a stable boy.

They scarf down dinner quickly, all of them hungry from the day’s ride. When they’re done Ava orders the two of them a bath, just like she’d done the last time they were at an inn. Their room is a little bigger this time, and there’s a decently sized window in the wall, showing the street that they had come from. Despite being more spacious, there is still only one bed in the room. It looks slightly softer than the last, the bed sheets smoother. Sara quickly gets started on her regular routine of hiding various weapons around the room as they wait for their baths.

When their baths are ready, Sara wastes no time undressing, eager to get in the hot water. She sighs as she submerges herself, closes her eyes when she’s fully covered by the water. A presence behind her makes them fly open. She quickly glances over her shoulder and finds Ava kneeled next to her bath.

“I thought you might want me to help again with, uh, with cleaning your back,” Ava says shyly.

“That’d be nice, uh, I mean, helpful, uh, thanks.” Sara screws her eyes shut at her own awkwardness and the way her heart beats faster just at the thought.

Ava’s hands are quicker this time, yet somehow more lingering, more reluctant to pull away. Sara offers her the same service and finds her movements quite the same as Ava’s. In the end she forces her hands away, when Ava’s back is as clean as she can hope to get it.

 

When they’re both done and once more fully dressed, Ava turns to her with an excited look on her face. “I want to go for a walk,” she says with barely contained excitement.

“Okay,” Sara responds, drawing out the y. “You seem awfully excited about just a walk.”

Ava chews her bottom lip before she answers. “Growing up the heir to the throne, you don’t really get to see much of the world outside of castles without guards flanking your every side.”

“I don’t count as a guard?”

“You’re preferable.” Ava offers one of her soft small smiles that makes Sara’s heart skip a beat.

“Well then, lead the way, my lady,” Sara says, exaggerating a deep bow to accompany her words. She holds her arm out for Ava to take when she straightens back up. She’s only a little surprised when Ava wraps her hands around the offered arm.

Despite the sunlight quickly fading, the streets of the town are still busy with people. There’s a market not too far away from the inn that Sara steers them towards. She can feel Ava’s excitement grow as they enter it, her hands tightening on Sara’s arm as she looks around them with wide eyes. She stops suddenly, pulling on Sara’s arm.

“What’s that?” she asks, lifting one hand to point towards a big barrel with a boy standing behind it.

“Let’s go find out,” Sara says, starting up their walk again. She grins when she sees the contents of the barrel, it’s filled with water with apples bobbing at the top of it. “I used to love these as a kid,” she muses, pulling her arm from Ava so she can hand a coin to the boy. She rests her arms on the top of the barrel and leans into it, easily finding an apple and digging into it with her teeth. She pulls back up triumphant, immediately turning to look at Ava. Ava looks at her with suspicious eyes.

“Try it, it’s fun!” Sara says with a mouthful of apple.

“You want me to put my face into water that loads of other people have put their faces in, to try and get an apple that’s been floating in said water?”

“Yup!”

Ava narrows her eyes but takes a hesitant step towards the barrel. Sara hands the boy another coin as Ava’s arms come up to rest on the barrel.

“Wait,” Sara says just before she can lean down.

Ava throws her a look, to which Sara tries to point at her hair, hanging over her shoulder, but Ava doesn’t seem to understand. Sara sighs and bites down on the apple, then uses both of her hands to hold Ava’s hair back. Ava’s mouth opens into a soft  _ oh _ , before she offers Sara a smile, turning back to the barrel. When Ava pulls back up, Sara gently lets go of her hair, before grabbing the apple with her hand again and wiping her mouth with the back of the other. Ava turns to her with a proud look, an apple sticking out from her mouth. When she removes the apple she lets out a giggle that Sara finds all too adorable.

“See?” Sara asks smugly. “Fun!”

“It was… different,” Ava says, inspecting her apple.

“Fun different?” Sara asks with a smile.

“Fun different,” Ava admits with a sigh. Sara does a small victory jump at the admission before once more offering her arm to Ava.

They wander around the market a little while longer, taking in the different sights. Sara spots a small weapons stand and excuses herself to take a look while Ava peruses a stall filled with small knickknacks. Sara makes sure to keep her in her line of sight as she scans the weapons. She chuckles as her eyes land on one weapon in particular. Its blade is small and the handle is made up of two half circles, with a blue stone in the middle. Sara smirks as she haggles with the vendor, getting the small dagger down to a decent price she happily pays. She hides it behind her back as she scans the crowd for Ava, having had to take her eyes off of her when she bought it.

The smile drops from her face when she finally spots her. A man has decided to walk up to her in Sara’s absence, and judging by his body language, Sara can clearly see he’s flirting. She can also clearly see that Ava’s not enjoying it. She walks over to them with a brisk pace.

“Hey,” she says when she reaches them, the word spoken to Ava but her icy glare turned to the man. Ava looks at her with relief.

“Hey,” she says, reaching out for Sara’s hand.

“This guy bothering you?”

“I was merely asking the lady’s opinion on our small town,” the man says, voice sickly sweet as he turns an annoyed gaze at Sara.

“Don’t recall asking you,” Sara says flatly. The man narrows his eyes and reaches a hand out towards Ava. Before its made it half the distance his wrist is in Sara’s hand. She uses it to twist his arm behind his back.

“Sara, it’s okay,” Ava says softly, reaching a hand out for her arm. Sara relaxes slightly at the touch.

“Leave, before I break something,” Sara says, releasing his arm and taking a step back. Ava lets out a breath as the man scrambles away from them.

“Thanks,” Ava smiles when it’s once more just the two of them.

“It’s what I’m here for,” Sara says, biting her lip and turning her head away.

“What’s that?” Ava points at Sara’s hand. Sara looks down, having forgotten about concealing her purchase.

“It’s for you,” she says, lifting it up for Ava to see. Ava accepts it and turns it over in her hands.

“It’s pretty, but I don’t think this was made to fit in any belt.”

Sara smirks as she reaches for it. “It’s not supposed to be in your belt. Here, let me.” Sara reaches for Ava’s chest, the latter almost pulling away at the unexpectedness. She gently pulls Ava’s tunic down to uncover the top of her breasts, the tip of her nail tracing the soft skin there, as she guides the dagger to rest right inside the fabric, at the edge of her cleavage. She swallows as she brings her hands away.

“Oh,” Ava lets out, looking down at the concealed dagger. She brings a hand up to search it out. Sara tries very hard not to stare at it.

The sudden sound of a crying child brings her out of the trance before it can properly begin. Sara looks around them, trying to spot the source. She sees a small girl sitting on a crate not too far from them. She quickly walks over and kneels in front of her.

“What’s wrong?” she asks softly. The child tries to wipe her eyes and looks up at her through her eyelashes.

“I can’t find my mommy,” she sobs, her lip quivering. “I’m waiting but she’s not coming.”

“How long have you been sitting here?” The girl shrugs, new tears welling up in her eyes. Sara rests a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Do you know the way home?”

The girl nods. “But mommy says I shouldn’t walk home alone or with strangers.”

“We’re stran-” Ava starts, before Sara interrupts her, giving her a look.

“I’m Sara, I like swimming and uptight nobles.” The girl giggles as Ava gives an indignant huff. “What’s your name?”

“Emma,” she sniffles, trying for a small smile.

“Such a pretty name,” Sara smiles. “Can I tell you a secret Emma? Just between friends?” Sara asks, lowering her voice and moving her head just a little closer to the girl. Emma nods, her eyes widening. Sara looks around them conspiratorially, before leaning even closer and dropping her voice to a whisper. “My friend, Ava, is a princess. But you can’t tell anyone!”

“I won’t,” Emma promises, her eyes going even wider as she looks at Ava.

“What do you say we help you get home safe, as friends?” Sara smiles softly and reaches a hand out for Emma’s. Emma nods and grabs her hand. They both stand up, and Emma reaches out a hand for Ava’s hand. Sara looks at Ava, who up until now has looked at Sara and Emma with wonder in her eyes, and nods towards the girl’s hand. Ava blinks a few times before she looks at Emma’s expectant hand and hesitantly takes it in her own. Emma smiles as she does so.

Emma happily starts walking, leading them through all kinds of streets before finally arriving at the house she lives in. A woman, who Sara presumes is Emma’s mother, opens the door with tears in her eyes. She only starts crying harder as she sees Emma. Before running into her mother’s arms, Emma gives Sara an unexpected hug, wrapping her small arms around her waist.

“Thank you. I won’t tell anyone about our secret,” she whispers, before letting her go and running to her mother. The woman thanks them before they both disappear behind the door.

Sara makes to leave but Ava doesn’t move from the house.

“Ava?” Sara asks, looking at her curiously.

“They’re so poor,” Ava says sadly, looking at the rundown house in front of them. Sara sighs.

“Yeah, not everyone can live in a castle.” Sara makes to leave again but Ava’s still just standing there, worrying her lip. After a while she loosens the coin purse from her belt and puts it down gently by the door. Sara smiles as she watches her do it, before she shakes her head and bends down to lift the purse back up.

“Sara, what are you doing?” Ava asks with narrowed eyes.

“For someone so smart you’re really stupid sometimes,” Sara says with a small laugh. Ava stares at her, offended. “Street like this, anyone sees a purse full of coin they’re not gonna care who it belongs to. Wait here.” Ava sighs and nods as Sara disappears behind the house. She walks along the edge of it until she finds a window that’s slightly cracked open. She makes sure neither of the house’s inhabitants are present and gently sneaks the purse through the crack, disappearing back where she came from the moment it’s inside.

“We should head back to the inn,” she says when she gets back to Ava.

“Right,” Ava nods.

Sara takes a step forward, stops, then turns around.

“Uhh, you wouldn’t happen to have paid attention to the streets we took here?”

Ava sighs. “Are you telling me that tree assassin, Ser Sara Lance, in charge of escorting the future queen,  _ didn’t _ pay attention to where we were walking?”

“No? …Yes.” Sara sighs. “I was kinda preoccupied with the sobbing child. Why, are you telling me that the future queen, Ava ‘I don’t need your help’ Sharpe didn’t pay attention?”

“No!” Sara raises her eyebrow and lifts her hands up to gesture around them. “Yes,” Ava concedes.

“Ha!” Sara says with a grin, before it falls from her face. “So, we’re lost.”

“Yeah,” Ava sighs.

Sara spends a moment inspecting the different paths they can take around them. “I think,” she starts, subconsciously reaching out for Ava’s hand as she starts walking, “we came from here.” Sara only notices she’s holding Ava’s hand when Ava intertwines their fingers.

“Admit it, we’re lost!” Ava exclaims, pulling them to a stop in a backstreet that looks just like all the other ones they’ve passed.

“We’ll be fine as long as we keep moving forward,” Sara says with a roll of her eyes.

Ava opens her mouth to respond but Sara doesn’t hear it, her ears catching the sound of footsteps instead. She subtly looks around them, tries to determine if it’s a threat or not. Judging by what she can hear there’s four people, surrounding them from the two different entrances to the street. She determines they’re in no way friendly. Sara acts quickly, not wanting them to know she’s on to them. She grabs the front of Ava’s tunic, pulling her forwards as she takes a quick step backwards, until her back collides with the wall. She reaches for Ava’s neck with her other hand, pulls her down to where she can kiss her. Ava freezes against her.

“We’re being surrounded,” she whispers against her lips, pulling her even closer.

It takes a second, but suddenly Ava’s body springs into motion, her hands pulling Sara closer, her lips moving against her mouth. Sara swipes her bottom lip with her tongue, before gently licking into her mouth. Ava moans at the action, and it takes everything Sara has to focus on the footsteps closing in on them. One of Ava’s hands come up to splay itself against her collarbone. Sara’s mind is torn between listening to their soon-to-be assailants and Ava’s moans, wanting more than anything to give into Ava’s touch. She guides Ava’s hand down in between their bodies until they reach her belt, then takes her own hand back up, resting it on Ava’s chest.  _ They’re almost close enough to attack - Ava’s lips are so soft - Just a few seconds more - Ava’s moans sound like heaven - Now!  _ Sara’s hand folds around something hard resting just inside Ava’s tunic. In one swift motion she pulls it out and throws the small dagger at one of the people to her right, at the same time as she pushes Ava back with her other hand.

There’s the thud of a body hitting the ground, then the sound of a crossbow bolt whizzing in between their heads. Sara pushes away from the wall, pulls out her sword as Ava pulls out her knife. Sara moves to face her left side as Ava moves to face the other, the two of them standing back to back. Another crossbow bolt comes her way but this time Sara deflects it with her sword. One of their attackers gets within the reach of her sword. Within seconds he’s lying on the ground. There’s a yelp behind her. Sara turns without thinking, worried that Ava’s in danger. What she finds instead is Ava subduing her own attacker. Ava’s eyes lock with hers and she starts to yell something that sounds an awful lot like Sara’s name. Before Sara can react she feels a blow against her head.

The next thing Sara knows she’s lying on the ground, head cradled in soft arms.

“Come back to me, you jerk,” someone sobs, their hand resting on top of her heart.

Sara blinks her eyes open to find Ava looking every bit an angel. “Ow, my head,” she groans, trying to sit up, the hand on her chest keeping her down.

“Sara,” Ava exhales, looking down at her with relief. Before Sara can tell it’s happening, lips touch against her own, and before she gets a chance to react, the lips are withdrawn. Sara tries not to feel disappointed.

“We should get back to trying to find our way out of these streets,” Ava says, quickly getting to her feet. She offers a hand to Sara, who easily accepts it. Sara looks around them, seeing four bodies on the ground. She locates the one she had gotten with Ava’s new dagger, and pulls the dagger out, offering it to Ava. Ava offers her a smile, before she grabs Sara’s hand, once more trying to find their way back to the inn. It thankfully doesn’t take them too long. Sara feels like her hand is burning in the best possible way the entire time.

When they enter the inn they find Amaya and Zari sitting by the bar. Zari gives her a knowing look, combined with a softer one from Amaya, that Sara decides to ignore as she walks up to them. Whatever Zari thinks might have happened is wrong, but Sara can’t stop thinking about the seconds before the attack, so she feels like trying to deny anything would be futile. Instead she turns her attention to the barkeep, ordering a tankard of whatever her companions are drinking. Ava appears by her side as she takes her first sip.

“Where’s Gary?” Ava asks Amaya.

“He went to bed a little while ago. You two were out longer than we expected.” Amaya raises an eyebrow at them that Sara ignores. She sees Ava’s cheeks color in her peripheral view.

“I’m going to bed,” Ava announces with a nod. 

“Cool,” Sara says, taking another sip from her tankard. Ava clears her throat beside her.

“We have an early day tomorrow.” Ava raises an expectant eyebrow at her. Sara sighs and empties her tankard before jumping off her stool.

“Don’t stay up too late,” she smirks at her teammates, before following Ava all the way to their room.

Sara stretches her arms as Ava closes their door. The bed looks welcoming after the evening they’ve had. All Sara wants is to throw herself onto it and let unconsciousness take Ava off her mind. That plan shatters when Ava takes three quick steps up to her, grabs her arm, and spins her around to face her. Before Sara can ask what she’s doing, Ava pulls her closer with a hand on her neck, followed by a hard kiss. A second of shock passes where Sara does nothing. Another second passes where her brain properly registers what’s happening. Come the third second, Sara wraps her arms around Ava’s neck, pushes onto her toes, and kisses her harder still. Another second passes and Sara abruptly pulls back. Ava tries to chase her but Sara puts a hand on her chest, holding her back.

“Ava, what are-” Sara’s interrupted by Ava’s lips back on her own. It takes every ounce of willpower she has to pull back again before she loses herself in it.

Ava sighs. “Can we not talk right now?” she asks. Sara would point out that this is Ava and she’s usually the first one to say that they should talk, but Ava pulls her back in, leans so close that their lips are only an inch apart. Sara’s about to say something, anything, despite never being one to talk about things like this. But this is Ava, the person Sara’s escorting to her betrothed. 

Before any words escape Sara’s lips, Ava speaks again, just a single word, lips still barely an inch away from Sara’s. “Please.” It’s barely a whisper against Sara’s lips, but it has the desired effect. Sara closes what little distance is left and presses her lips as hard as she can against Ava’s, wanting nothing more than to be as close as to her as she can. The press of lips isn’t enough. Sara parts her lips, gently bites down on Ava’s lower lip, and pulls on it, making Ava part her own lips. She pulls back for a second with the motion, before pushing back in, slowly licking her tongue into Ava’s mouth. 

Ava moans as her hands fall to Sara’s belt, quickly unbuckling it and tearing it away from Sara. Sara’s hands move to the bottom of Ava’s tunic, pulling it up above her head, reluctantly breaking up the kiss as she does so. Ava tries to pull her back in but Sara aims her lips lower, leaving open mouthed kisses on Ava’s collarbone. She locates Ava’s pulse point at the same time as her hands find Ava’s belt. As her hands work on the belt, she lightly sucks on the skin between her lips, eliciting another wonderful moan from Ava. When the belt’s done away with, she pushes her towards the bed, only taking her lips off of her for the second it takes to push Ava down onto the bed. Sara straddles her thighs right after, tangling her hands in Ava’s hair and recapturing her lips in a searing kiss.

Later, when they’re both properly worn out, Sara takes a moment to look at the woman beside her. Ava’s lying with her eyes closed, a blissed out smile on her face, still coming down from her last high. Sara traces a hand along her cheek, leans down to press a chaste kiss to her lips. Ava slowly blinks her eyes open and all Sara wants to do is drown in them. She kisses her again, powerless to do anything else, then lays down properly beside her, pulling Ava closer, like she’s done so many times now. She tries not to think of the next day, tries not to think about arriving at the castle, surrendering Ava to her future husband. She swallows and rests her forehead on the back of Ava’s neck, curling against her body, afraid to let her go, wanting to be as close to her as she can this last day. Ava intertwines their fingers and drags them to rest above her heart. Sara feels unable to breathe as she feels every place their naked bodies are connected. She falls asleep with the knowledge that Ava will never be hers.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank y'all for all the feedback on the last chapter, I'm overwhelmed with all your amazing comments♥♥

Sara groans as the door to the room is opened. She instinctively reaches out in front of her to pull Ava closer. Only, her hand meets empty air and cold bed sheets. She forces her eyes open, confirming by sight what her hand had already discovered. She does a quick sweep around the room to see if Ava is anywhere but finds the room empty, save for Amaya peeking her head in through the door. The discovery hurts more than it should. It’s not like anything else could ever happen between them, Sara knows this, but she finds her arms yearning for Ava’s body between them, her nose yearning for the smell of Ava’s skin.

“Princess Ava sent me to tell you that she would appreciate it if you could get going soon,” Amaya says, looking at Sara with something that looks too close to pity.

“Tell her royal highness I’ll be down in a minute,” Sara says briskly. Amaya nods and closes the door, leaving Sara alone. Sara collapses on the bed, curses herself for having given in to Ava. She should have known that nothing good would come from it. She throws the covers away from herself and looks down at her body as she sits up, seeing a purple spot on top of her chest, left by Ava. She lifts a hand up to it, gently presses down to feel that it’s real. When she feels a small sting she draws her hand away as if she had been burned. She jumps out of the bed, suddenly eager to be anywhere else, has to get away from the memories she has of the prior night. She gets dressed in a rush, barely remembers to collect all her knives before exiting the room and making her way down to her team.

The first thing Sara notices when her eyes fall on Ava is her hair. She’s gotten so used to seeing it flowing freely over her shoulders and down her back that the sight in front of her leaves her frozen, eyes wide and her mouth open. She’s put it in a bun. Sara had almost forgotten how it looked, tightly pressed together on the top her head. Ava catches her looking, but instead of offering one of the small smiles Sara has gotten so familiar with, Ava’s mouth is drawn in a hard line, her face annoyed more than anything. Sara swallows as she makes her way over to her.

When she sits down on the table, Ava pushes a bowl and tankard towards her. “Try to eat quickly, I want to leave as soon as possible.”

“I’ll bet.” Sara looks down at her breakfast but finds she has no appetite. She pushes the bowl away and reaches for the tankard instead, taking a sip.

“You have to eat!” Ava says, turning accusing eyes on Sara.

“Actually, I don’t.” Sara turns defiant eyes on Ava.

“You’re not riding without food!” There’s a hint of worry in Ava’s voice. It’s just a hint but it’s the first sign of emotion Sara’s gotten from her since she woke up. Sara’s tempted to leave the food just to spite her, but the small sign that Ava didn’t just stop caring over night makes Sara reach for the bowl involuntarily, pulling it back to her and taking a spoonful to her mouth. Ava looks away from her, satisfied that she’d gotten Sara to eat. Sara wants to hate her for it.

“Where’s Zari and Amaya?” she asks around a mouthful of food.

“They went to look around the town, since they won’t be joining us. Gary went to prepare the horses.”

Sara nods. They had agreed that there was no need for Amaya and Zari to accompany them all the way, the three of them would move faster on their own, and Sara would get back to them faster once she can leave Ava’s side. Sara’s heart aches at the thought of leaving her.

“And you stayed behind to keep me company, how sweet,” Sara says teasingly, trying one last time to get Ava to treat her like the friend she thought she had become.

“Someone had to make sure you didn’t fall back asleep, and Gary volunteered to ready the horses, so…” Ava doesn’t even look at her as she speaks. “Now that you’re here, I’m going to go check on him,” Ava says, getting up like she can’t get away from Sara fast enough.

The moment Ava’s out of view, Sara stops eating, pushes the half empty bowl away from her again. She spends some time emptying the rest of her tankard, partly to give off the illusion that she had finished her meal, and partly to piss Ava off by taking her time. When it’s finally empty she slowly starts making her way outside. She finds Ava and Gary talking next to their horses. Ava appears relaxed for the first time that day, laughing at something Gary says. Then she spots Sara walking towards them and her body goes rigid. Sara ignores them, just walks up to Gideon and strokes her mane, before getting seated in the saddle.

“You coming?” she asks, keeping her voice as devoid of emotion as possible as she looks at Ava. Ava hesitantly walks towards her and makes her way on top of Gideon. Sara reasons that Gary’s horse has enough weight on it with both their sets of bags and Gary. She knows that Zari and Amaya probably wouldn’t mind them borrowing one of their horses, but she reasons that riding back with two horses would just delay her more than necessary. Besides, Ava doesn’t question it, so why should Sara?

Ava’s hands barely touch Sara’s sides, holding on more to the fabric of her tunic than Sara. She once more sits with her body as far away from Sara’s as possible, as if touching Sara is dangerous. Sara rolls her eyes, coaxes Gideon to start moving before Gary’s even gotten into his saddle. It doesn’t take long for them to exit the town, putting them on the open road. The moment they do, Sara makes Gideon gallop. Ava yelps behind her, clutches onto Sara’s sides. Sara makes Gideon run even faster. Ava’s arms quickly move around her waist, her body pressing as far against her as their position will allow.

“What the hell are you doing?” Ava yells, tightening her arms.

“You want to get to the castle as soon as possible, don’t you?” Sara yells back.

“I’d like to get there alive!” 

Sara rolls her eyes, slows Gideon down just a little, pleased when Ava keeps their bodies close. She shouldn’t be, they’ll be at the castle before sundown, in the home of Ava’s future husband. Sara shouldn’t want to be close to her at all. And yet the only thing keeping her going is Ava’s arms holding on to her for dear life. She slows Gideon down even more so Gary can catch up to them. Ava relaxes slightly, but she’s still got her arms tightly wrapped around her, still pressing their bodies together, even though they’re going so slowly that it really isn’t necessary. Sara hates the hope that blossoms in her stomach because of it. She knows nothing will come of anything between them. She knows asking Ava to ride with her was a mistake, just like everything that happened the previous day had been. She knows she never would have changed a single thing regardless.

Neither of them speak a single word for the rest of the ride. Sara thinks Gary may have tried, but she hadn’t allowed him the opportunity. As the castle’s walls come into view Sara clenches her jaw, grabs the reins so hard she feels her nails dig into the palm of her hand. She slows Gideon down to almost a walk, wishing more than anything that they didn’t have to enter the gates, wishing she could turn around and take Ava somewhere else. The soldiers stop them right in front of the castle gate. Ava slides off of Gideon behind her, stands as regal as only the queen to be can as she informs the soldiers of who they are. Sara’s body feels cold where Ava had touched it. When they’re lead inside Sara reluctantly jumps off of Gideon and hands her reins to a stable boy, with a promise of much pain should anything happen to her horse. The boy scurries off after Gary hands him the reins to his horse as well.

Sara rests her hand on her sword as they enter the castle, staying close by Ava’s side, watching and listening for the first sign of any threat. They’re lead all the way to the throne room, to be introduced to the king and his son. Sara’s fist tightens around the hilt of her sword as she gets ready to meet Ava’s betrothed. The guard leading them introduces them to the king before going back to his post.

“Greetings, your highnesses,” Ava says with a curtsy.

Gary bows on Ava’s other side but Sara keeps her back straight, despite Ava glancing at her with annoyance. Up until now Sara’s kept her eyes on the king and the room around them, refusing to let her eyes dart to the prince. The movements of the prince walking down towards them, however, forces her eyes on him. She freezes when she fully takes in his blond hair and scruffy appearance, his fancy clothes the only thing making him look remotely like royalty. She relaxes the hand on her sword subconsciously as his eyes look into hers.

“John?” she asks, disbelief evident in her voice.

“Ser Lance,” he grins, giving her a half hearted bow.

“You know each other?” Ava asks, looking between them, puzzled.

“We’ve met,” Sara says, eyes still wide. “Last time I saw you you were chasing demons two weeks west of here.”

“Everyone needs their hobbies,” he shrugs. “Though I must say, I remember our time fondly.” John smirks and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

Ava clenches her jaw beside her, stares daggers at her betrothed as a hand goes out to wrap itself around Sara’s arm. Sara’s pretty certain Ava’s reactions are due to jealousy. She thinks Ava doesn’t have the right; she’s the one marrying him. Still, she makes no move to pull away. John looks at Ava’s hand and looks at them with an all too knowing look.

“Has Ri- Lord Hunter and the king arrived yet?” Sara asks, trying to distract herself from Ava’s closeness. The hand around her bicep tightens.

“Not yet, we’ve received word that they should be here early tomorrow,” the king says, raising himself from his throne. “Emery, show Princess Ava and her companions to their rooms.” A young girl jumps to her feet and walks towards them. “I’ll have the servants draw you all a bath after your long journey. After I would be grateful if you would join me and my son for supper.”

“Thank you, your majesty,” Ava says with another curtsy, before Emery leads them away from the throne room. Ava’s hold on her arm relaxes, but she doesn’t remove it. Sara feels like her arm is burning.

When they get to their rooms servants are already waiting inside. Emery points to Ava’s room first. Sara starts to go with her, until she registers Emery’s next words, that the door on their left leads to her room. She hadn’t even considered the possibility that they wouldn’t be sharing a room. Ava’s hand drops from her arm as Ava continues walking towards her own room. She glances at Sara over her shoulder as Emery shows Gary to his room, on Ava’s other side.

“Walk with me to supper?” she asks, as if she’s scared Sara will disappear.

Sara only nods, it’s not like she has a choice anyway, she’s still Ava’s bodyguard, until Rip and her father arrives. She sighs as she enters her own room, where a bath is already being drawn, telling herself that she only needs to survive one night and then she can leave all of this behind.

Sara leans on the wall and eyes the servant, a woman just a few years younger than her. She doesn’t quite know what to make of herself, not used to being around servants that are there for her. If it were up to her she’d send the servant and the bath away, stay in her room until morning. But it’s not, so when the bath is ready she decides not to try to convince the servant to leave, just quickly removes her clothes and gets seated in the tub. She misses Ava’s eyes on her as she does. She flinches when the servant’s hand makes contact with her shoulder, fists her hands to keep from removing them.

She slowly allows herself to relax as the servant’s gentle touch works on cleaning her. When she finishes with Sara’s back and hair, Sara leans back against the edge of the tub, closing her eyes. The servant starts working on her arms next. When she’s done, she moves to Sara’s chest, her touch growing more firm and bold. It’s not hard to figure out what she wants. Sara entertains the idea of letting her continue, thinks it wouldn’t be hard to convince her to come back after supper. An image of Ava flashes in her mind. Sara curses internally as she locks her eyes on the wall separating them. When the servant's hand reaches Sara’s breast, Sara brings a gentle but firm hand on top of it.

“I can finish cleaning myself,” she says, before releasing her hand.

The servant nods and leaves her alone in the room. Sara sighs as she quickly finishes her bath. She gets dressed in the first clothes she can find, and makes sure to have her sword at her hip and knives hidden various places on her body. She leaves the room when she’s done and finds Ava and Gary already standing in the hall, waiting for her. She freezes when she takes Ava in. Her bun is back to being proper, not a hair out of place, after being disheveled from their ride. She’s no longer wearing her riding clothes, and Sara supposes she shouldn’t be surprised by that fact, but she is. Instead of riding garb she’s wearing a long dress that Sara can’t help think feels wrong on her, despite the look making Sara drool internally.

“Hey,” Ava says, smiling that small smile that Sara had gotten so used to, the one that Ava had refused to give her ever since last night.

_ No, _ Sara thinks, Ava doesn’t get to do that, doesn’t get to treat her like she doesn’t matter the entire day, only to turn around and look at her like  _ that _ , like she’s the only one there, like just the sight of her brightens up her day. It’s not fair, and Sara wants to hate her for it.

They walk side by side to supper, close enough that Sara can feel the warmth radiating off of Ava, but not close enough that they’re touching. Sara notices Ava’s hand twitching a couple of times, as if she wants to reach out, but she never does. Sara keeps one hand on the hilt of her sword and the other hanging loosely by her side. The room they’re taken to is grand, a long table in the middle of it. The king is seated at its head, his son on his right side. The moment they enter the room, Ava’s hand reaches for Sara’s. Sara almost jumps at the unexpectedness of it. She chances a glance at Ava and finds her staring straight at John. Gary is directed to sit next to John, and Sara and Ava are directed to sit on the king’s other side.

Sara tries to say as little as possible during supper, just listens to the three royals in the room and Gary, waiting to be allowed to go back to her room. Ava’s hand leaves hers as they eat, forced to use both hands for their supper. Still Ava keeps her chair close, almost brushing their thighs together. John speaks to Sara a couple of times, and whenever he does Ava always touches her in some way, an ‘accidental’ brush against her arm, or tucking hair behind Sara’s ear that Ava insists would’ve fallen in her food. It both pisses Sara off and makes her heart ache. Ava’s the one who is marrying him, Ava’s the one who’s choosing someone else after everything that happened the night before, she has no right to be acting this possessive, as if Sara belongs to her. Despite how much Sara wishes she did.

When they’re finally excused, Sara rushes back to the solitude of her room. She undresses in a rush, but can’t be bothered to find clothes to sleep in, just throws herself naked on the bed, wanting nothing more than a dreamless slumber to take her. Of course she’s not that lucky. Just before she falls asleep a knock on the door makes her fully alert. Sara lets out a curse and quickly walks over to the door, doesn’t even bother wrapping the bed sheets around herself to cover up. She opens the door just a crack, expects a guard, or the servant who had lead them around earlier, or hell, even Gary. She does not expect the person she comes face to face with. She thinks maybe sleep must have taken her after all.

“Sara,” Ava breathes, like a prayer.

Before Sara can respond or do anything at all, Ava pushes her into the room, wraps her arms around her, and kisses her fiercely. Sara hates her, hates how her body feels so perfect pressed against Sara’s, hates how those soft lips and gentle tongue makes it impossible for Sara not to kiss her back, hates how all Ava has to do is show up in her room and Sara’s lost in her. Sara pushes her up against the door, effectively closing it behind her. Sara’s hands explore Ava’s body, and it’s only then she realizes that Ava’s wearing a nightgown. Sara decides to take full advantage of it, instead of going through the process of properly undressing Ava she trails a hand down underneath the hem of the skirt, slowly moves it up the inside of Ava’s thigh as she kisses her way to her neck. Ava leans her head against the door as Sara’s hand reaches its destination. Sara thinks she should probably care about the sounds she’s making Ava make, there’s no way they don’t travel through the door right behind her, but she doesn’t. All she cares about is making sure that the only thing on Ava’s mind is Sara, not the man she’s supposed to be marrying in just a couple of days.

When Sara’s drawn out all the pleasure she can from Ava, a long time after they moved to the bed, Sara rolls off of her, intent on getting at least a few hours of sleep. Ava’s hand on her shoulder stops her from moving away further. Sara glances at her over her shoulder.

“Don’t go,” Ava pleads, hand trailing down Sara’s arm. Where would she go? They’re in her room, in her bed, the most she can get away from Ava is a couple of feet. She doesn’t respond, just lies down on her side, only a few inches away from Ava. She hears Ava lifting herself from the bed, holds her breath as she feels her leaning closer. Soft lips make contact with Sara’s shoulder, just for a second, before they pull back again. Ava settles close to her, wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her close, just like Sara’s done for so many nights now. The action only serves to make Sara’s heart ache even more. She lets herself be lulled to sleep by Ava’s warmth coupled with Ava’s thumb stroking her belly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry?  
> Good news! I've got the last two chapters ready to be posted, I won't make you wait a week between postings now that it's almost over, chapter 11 will be posted either monday or tuesday, and chapter 12 will be posted next friday!


	11. Chapter 11

Sara wakes in Ava’s arms, one of Ava’s hands resting right above her heart. She carefully looks at her over her shoulder and finds Ava sleeping peacefully, hair half covering her face. Sara’s tempted to stay, to fall back asleep securely in Ava’s arms. She swallows as she gently puts a hand over the one above her heart and eases herself out of Ava’s embrace, careful not to wake her. 

Once on her feet she looks longingly at the sleeping form still in the bed. Ava’s hand searches the bed sheets in front of her. Sara tries to convince herself it isn’t searching for her. Eventually the hand grabs onto the covers and pulls them more securely around her. Sara tears her eyes away.

She decides to get dressed. She needs to get out of the room, away from Ava, it’s not like she’s in any danger here anyway. She’s almost done getting dressed when there’s a sound from the bed.

“You’re leaving?” Ava’s voice sounds small as she asks the question.

“I’m just getting breakfast,” Sara says, careful to keep her voice even, looking at the door and not at Ava.

“Oh,” Ava says, relieved. “Wait for me?”

Sara swallows. She shouldn’t, but how can she not? “Sure,” she nods and leans against the wall beside the door, turning to face Ava. Ava sits up fully in the bed, lets the covers pool at her waist. Sara can’t help her eyes from travelling lower. The sound of Ava’s voice brings her eyes back up to her head.

“Could you grab me some clothes? I didn’t think that far ahead…” Ava says, looking down at herself.

“I’ll be right back,” Sara says, already halfway out the door. Once outside the room she entertains the idea of making a run for it, letting Ava find her own way around. It’s not like Sara will be here for long so she has to get used to walking around without her anyway. She sighs, knows there’s no way she’ll say no to spending time with Ava, despite knowing she should.

She doesn’t spend much time inspecting Ava’s room, goes straight for the wardrobe that Ava’s already emptied her bags into. Among the clothes she had worn during their trip there’s also a grand selection of dresses that must have been here from before. Sara ignores all of them. Buried deep inside she finds a pair of pants and a tunic that looks fancy enough for court. She pulls them out and quickly starts to make her way back to Ava.  _ If Ava wanted a dress she should have said so, _ she thinks with a shrug. Before she leaves she catches sight of something shining on Ava’s mostly untouched bed, and upon further inspection she finds it to be the small dagger she had gotten Ava in the small town, the blue stone glinting in the morning sun.

When she returns Ava is standing next to the only mirror in the room, stark naked as she works on putting her hair up in a bun. Sara swallows as her eyes involuntarily runs up and down her body, catching every mark she’s  left on it over the past two nights. She tears her eyes away and offers the clothes to Ava when she brings her hands down from her hair. Ava accepts them with a smile, one that Sara is powerless but to return. Ava shakes her head with a small smile when she inspects the clothes in her hands. Sara rolls her eyes and turns away, leans against the nearest wall and looks at the door, waiting for Ava to get dressed. She hears Ava sigh but she doesn’t know if it’s due to the clothes or due to Sara turning away, maybe both.

“I’m ready,” Ava says tentatively, as if anything too loud or fast might spook Sara. Sara turns around to face her. Her mouth goes dry when she does. Despite most of the wardrobe being dresses the clothes that Sara had picked out were clearly made for Ava. The pants sit tightly on her long legs, ending snugly at her waist. The tunic is loose fitting, made to go closer around her wrists and waist, and the neck of it is cut open, the edges of it laying against her chest, showing an ample amount of cleavage.

“Sara?” There’s amusement in they way Ava says her name, making Sara drag her eyes away from where they’ve been staring at Ava’s chest. Despite the amused smile on Ava’s lips, her cheeks have gone a nice shade of pink.

Sara turns around to open the door, gesturing for Ava to exit first. When they’re both out in the hallway Ava reaches for Sara’s arm, wrapping her own around it, just like she’d done at the inn two days prior. Sara doesn’t pull away, but she doesn’t try to accommodate Ava’s arms either, keeping her own arm loosely by her side, trying not to show any sign that Ava’s touch is affecting her, despite the beating in her chest that’s only getting louder.

“Do you know where the kitchen is?” Ava asks when they’ve been walking for a few minutes.

Sara stops abruptly. “No,” she drawls. She had just started them on the path to where they ate supper the evening before, not thinking over the fact that that might not be where they’re supposed to eat breakfast.

Ava giggles, and her eyes sparkle. “Let’s see if we can find a guard or a servant or something,” she says, pulling on Sara’s arm. Sara dutifully follows, letting Ava drag her around the halls of the castle.

“I’ve been thinking,” Ava says when they’ve walked a little while without running into anyone, “about something you said a while ago.” Ava makes a face. “Well, not that long ago, just a few days, I suppose.”

“I say a lot of things, you’re gonna have to be a little more specific,” Sara says, the hint of a smile on her lips. She can’t help but go soft around Ava, despite needing to do the opposite.

“About something you said during the storm.” Ava pulls them to a stop, turns Sara around to look at her. Ava’s eyes search hers as she worries her lip and brings a hand up to Sara’s cheek. Sara should pull away, but instead she’s mesmerized by Ava’s eyes and the heat radiating from the hand on her cheek.

Just as Ava opens her mouth to speak again, laughter sounds from not too far away. Sara turns her head instinctively, looking for the source of the sound. Just a few feet away she spots it; John and Gary has just rounded a corner, and Gary’s laughing presumably at something John said. John’s got a hand resting on Gary’s shoulder, and Gary’s cheeks are flushed as he smiles at John. Sara clenches her jaw, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the two probably spent the night together. The least thing John can do is not spend the night with someone who isn't his betrothed, she thinks, despite the fact that Ava had very much spent the night with her. Ava turns her head to follow Sara’s line of sight just as Gary spots them, his lips pulling up in a grin.

“Your highness!” he exclaims, quickening the pace of his feet.

“Sara, Sharpie,” John nods at them as he follows Gary.

Ava’s hand, which had fallen to Sara’s shoulder when she turned, slides down and around her back, settling at her side. Ava looks straight at John with a scowl, a look that John answers with amusement.

“Prince John, we need to talk. In private,” Ava adds the last part on apologetically, looking at Sara. Sara shrugs. A little while away from Ava is exactly what she needs to clear her head.

“Agreed,” John says, suddenly more serious.

“Sorry, try to save some breakfast for me,” Ava says with a small, almost sad smile, before she pulls away from Sara and follows John to some private room.

Sara ends up walking with Gary to breakfast, talking back when prompted but not really following the conversation, mind too preoccupied with why Ava wanted to talk to John in private, and what she had tried to tell her before Gary and John showed up. Sara doesn’t really think it over as they walk, but somehow Gary seems to know the exact route to get them to the kitchen quickly. She eats her breakfast fast, the food giving her a tiny distraction from thoughts of Ava. She’s seated facing one of the room’s doors, waiting for Ava and John to walk in, somehow expecting Ava to make breakfast, as Gary takes his time finishing his breakfast, talking more than actually eating. She can’t help the disappointment when Ava never shows.

“I need some air,” she announces abruptly, jumping to her feet and walking towards the exit without waiting for Gary’s response.

She finds herself wandering around the castle, mapping out the unknown paths. Eventually she finds her way to an exit, one facing out into a garden. The moment she steps foot outside she hears the familiar sound of metal hitting metal. Without thinking she lets her feet carry her towards the sound. She ends up staring at what appears to be some off duty guards dueling. She leans against a nearby tree and watches them. They’re good as far as castle guards go, but Sara’s pretty sure they wouldn’t put up much a fight against her. She’s no sooner thought the thought when someone raises their sword and points at her.

“Looking to test your steel?” the guard asks, an easy smile on her lips.

“Sure, I could go for a round,” Sara responds just as easily, resting one hand on the hilt of her sword as she walks up to the guard. She draws her sword as she nears her, and the other guards form a semi circle around them.

“3 silver on May!” a guard shouts, and soon the other guards join in, placing their bets. Only a couple bet on Sara, and Sara has a feeling they only do it to do the opposite of their peers.

“Whenever you’re ready,” May says, jumping on her feet as she raises her sword. Sara smirks and takes a step forward, swinging her sword experimentally at May. She blocks it, as expected, and Sara retreats, observing her movements as she strikes again at a different angle.

Their fight ends up lasting longer than Sara expected it to. May’s more skilled than Sara gave her credit for and she can see why her fellow guards has such faith in her, though she puts up nowhere near as good of a fight as Ava had done. Still, she serves as a useful distraction, until Sara forces her to the ground and is reminded of doing the same to Ava. She ends the fight quickly after that, thanks May for the fight and excuses herself. Someone throws a small pouch at her as she walks away, says it’s for putting on such a good show. Sara easily catches it before moving on.

She walks around the edge of the castle as she ponders how to make the time go faster. When she makes it around to the front of it, a carriage pulls through the gate, stopping right in front of the castle’s main entrance. The door opens and out comes a familiar face. Sara doesn’t know whether to be more relieved or sad at Rip and the king’s arrival, signaling the end of her time with Ava. Rip catches sight of her and Sara quickly makes her way over to them.

“Ser Lance!” he exclaims, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Rip,” she nods with a small smile.

“I don’t see Ava anywhere, I trust she is well?”

“She’s fine, she’s talking with her betrothed,” Sara says, just barely managing not to screw up her face at the thought of them together.

“Good, good,” Rip says thoughtfully.

“Now that you’re here my services are no longer required. You used up your favor, don’t expect me to play escort service for more of your nobles.” Maybe Sara says it a bit too harshly, but the thought of Rip calling for her in the future to escort Ava - and gods forbid her children - is too much for Sara to handle.

“Of course,” Rip nods, patting her shoulder.

“Tell Ava I said goodbye,” Sara says, and then she leaves Rip behind, quickly making her way back to the room to fetch her bags, before making her way to the stables. She would stay and say goodbye herself if she thought one look at Ava wouldn't make her try to find some reason to not leave at all.

“Hey girl,” she says when she lays eyes on Gideon. Her horse gives out a happy sound as Sara walks over to her, offering her an apple as she runs her hand along her mane. She thinks about riding right away, but then she takes a look around the stables and thinks Gideon deserves to be spoiled after their journey, finding a bunch of different brushes and whatnot to properly clean her, as well as treats. She doesn’t know how long she spends spoiling Gideon before she finally decides it’s time to ride out.

She keeps Gideon at a walk as they exit the castle gates. The moment they’re outside she lets Gideon pick the speed, feeling like she can finally breathe again with so much space between herself and Ava. She rides carefree until the sound of hooves hitting the ground and someone yelling her name pulls her to an abrupt stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm... even more sorry?


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo, final chapter! Thank all of you so much for coming on this journey with me, I hope this last chapter lives up to expectations!

When Ava’s father had told her that she was finally to marry Ava had been against it. She had tried asking her father if they couldn’t secure the alliance some other way but her father wouldn’t have it, saying he had given her many years to find a partner and it was about time she marry. Ava had reluctantly accepted, she would serve her kingdom in whatever way it needed, and arguing with her father when he’s set his mind to something is not an easy thing.

When Lord Hunter had advised her father to let someone escort her as a commoner - and told them about the  _ assassin _ he had in mind for it - Ava had scoffed. She had been almost certain he had been joking, surely putting a princess in the hands of someone who used to kill royals had to be a joke. But Lord Hunter had been completely serious, and had somehow managed to convince her father it was the best thing to do, as if half a dozen of her father’s best trained guards weren’t better than one assassin. Especially considering they were apparently good enough to defend the king. She had reluctantly accepted to go on the journey with Ser Lance, as her father had decided.

At first she had wanted the journey to end as soon as possible so she didn’t have to spend more time than necessary with Ser Lance. Every moment she spent with the (reformed) assassin only served to annoy her. Before their journey she hadn’t realized it was possible for anyone to get on her nerves in quite that way. But  _ she _ had.

The night Ser Lance taught her how to whittle was the night Ava’s head started being a mess. Looking back at it she supposes she should never have insisted to stay up with her, should just have gone to sleep while her escort kept watch, but she had never been one to just do nothing. Ava hadn’t known why she was so hesitant to let Sara - because somehow by that night formality had fallen away and she had started calling her  _ Sara _ , had loved the way the small word flowed off her tongue, despite it being in annoyance - show her how to whittle, had written it off as a want to do it on her own, and not due to the way her heart beat when Sara’s fingers touched her hand.

And then the storm had happened, forcing them to stay together, under the same blanket no less. Ava’s not sure how she survived having Sara’s half naked body pressed into hers, doesn’t know how she had managed to keep her hands to herself, but that night had irrevocably changed their relationship, had highlighted to Ava how quickly her feelings for Sara had changed. It didn’t help that talking to Sara was somehow so easy that Ava had just told her she didn’t want to marry Prince John -  _ why _ she didn’t want to marry him. She had been terrified in that moment that Sara would shy away from her, would judge her. Instead Sara had confessed liking girls, something which had only made Ava’s attraction to her stand out even more - because that’s what she tried to convince herself it was, Sara was attractive and Ava was only human.

The inn had been no help in tempering her feelings, Ava doesn’t know what she was thinking when she had ordered baths for them in the same room. She had tried to keep her distance after that, but Sara would have none of it. Ava hadn’t been sure if it was because she took what she was hired to do seriously or if she had simply wanted to spend time with her, she hoped for the latter, despite having known that’s the last thing she should have hoped for.

At first she really had just wanted the journey end to get away from the most annoying person she had ever met. But then it changed, when they grew closer, when Ava started to have all these  _ feelings _ , and then she was eager for the journey to end for a whole different reason. She had needed it to end before her feelings for Sara grew to be too much for her to walk away from. Of course, that had been an impossibility.

If only Sara hadn’t kissed her, in the alley, after Ava had just witnessed her with Emma. If only Ava hadn’t kissed her back, if only she hadn't gotten lost in it, completely unaware of their surroundings until Sara threw her dagger and pushed them apart.

It was inevitable, really, that Ava would kiss her again back in their room, that Ava would want more,  _ need  _ more, and that Sara would only be all too happy to oblige. She had managed to fool herself into thinking it would take the edge off, that it truly was just physical attraction and she just had to get Sara out of her system, certain Sara would feel the same way. Of course giving herself to Sara in that way had only enhanced her feelings, something she had thought impossible.

Which is why she had left Sara’s arms the moment she had woken up the next day, knowing the only way either of them would get through it was if they took their relationship back to being purely professional, a princess and her knight. Acting like just the sight of Sara didn’t set her heart aflame had nearly killed her, trying to keep her distance, to say as little as possible. When Sara had made Gideon gallop Ava had complained, but in truth she was glad Sara had done it, glad she had given Ava an excuse to hold her close, one last time. If only it had been the last time.

When they arrived at the castle Ava was nearly at her breaking point. She thought somehow seeing her betrothed, putting an actual face to her duty, would help her see clearly. Instead she had learned Sara and her betrothed had a past, and all Ava had been able to feel was jealousy, jealousy she knew she had no right to feel. But the thought of someone else touching Sara, holding her close, had her seeing red.

After that she could no longer pretend that seeing Sara wasn’t the best part about her day, had been unable to keep a smile from her lips when seeing her. Had been unable to stay away from Sara’s room, despite trying her best to fall asleep in her own, the first night without Sara’s arms around her since that first night in the forest. Really, her going to Sara’s room, kissing her, surrendering herself to her that second time had also been inevitable. Sara not wrapping her up in her arms had broken her heart, and she had been terrified that Sara would leave her to sleep alone, despite knowing it’s what she should have done.

Holding Sara in her arms had felt like heaven. She had expected that Sara would pull away when she first wrapped her arm around her, had said a silent prayer when Sara had let her, as she wrapped herself around her, their bodies settling against each other as if they were created for it. When Sara was fast asleep Ava had pulled her impossibly closer, had kissed the back of her hair and whispered three words she was never supposed to feel into the back of Sara’s neck. She had known then that this was something she could never walk away from, had known that she had to do everything in her power to hold on to the person in her arms and her feelings for her.

Her heart had fallen when she had woken up without Sara in her arms. Relief flooded her body when she looked up to see Sara finishing getting dressed. It wasn’t the same as waking wrapped up in her, but at least she was still in the room. Still, with Sara standing fully dressed, moving as quietly as she had to have done to leave the bed without waking Ava, flashes of Sara leaving her behind without as much as a goodbye ran through Ava’s mind. They were only dispelled when Sara told her she was only getting breakfast.

When she sent Sara to find her clothes she supposes she should have expected Sara to return with pants and a tunic instead of proper clothing for a princess. If Ava’s being honest she’s hated wearing a dress ever since she was a child, only wears them because it’s what’s expected of her. As she stared down at the clothes Sara had handed her she didn’t quite know what to feel, just knew that she got an almost impossible to resist urge to kiss her. Sara turned around and Ava sighed, quickly got dressed so they could go eat, head turning trying to formulate a plan.

She had just about formulated one, and was about to tell Sara, when Gary and Prince John made an appearance. Ava cursed under her breath, hoping that Sara would allow her to explain later. She hated leaving her behind with Gary as she walked away with the prince but it was the only way there’d be any hope for them.

 

It doesn’t take much to convince the prince, she’s barely gotten the words out of her mouth before he jumps up, quickly agreeing with everything she’s said. They spend some time working out a battle plan before her  father’s scheduled arrival. Ava finds herself surprised by how serious the prince takes it. She supposes she’s not the only one who doesn’t want this marriage to happen.

Her father arrives not long after. Ava stands tall with her arms behind her back as he enters with Lord Hunter and the king of Constantine - King Tommy, suddenly finding herself self conscious about the clothes Sara had picked out for her.

“Princess Ava,” her father nods as he takes her in.

“King Alistair,” she respond with a half bow, ever formal.

Her father walks closer and puts a hand on her cheek. For a moment they just look at each other with the faces of a king and a princess, but then her father smiles down at her and Ava feels her own lips turn up in a grin. Her dad pulls her into a hug and Ava breathes in his familiar smell. She hadn’t realized how much she missed him until now.

“King Tommy tells me you two have something you wish to discuss with us?” her father says, taking a couple steps away from her to look at both her and the prince.

“Right.” Ava takes a second to steel herself before launching into the plan she and Prince John had discussed. They don’t go into too much detail, that is to be left for proper negotiations, but she talks about an alliance formed by trade rather than marriage. The winter hits Constantine hard, and they barely produce enough grain to last the entirety of it. Their iron production, however, is beat by no other kingdom. Ava’s kingdom, on the other hand, has scarce for iron but has a much milder winter and much more grain. Her kingdom also has the best quality leather, whereas Constantine produces the finest wool. From Constantine they will get fresh soldiers, and in return Constantine will get the best warhorses.

All through their speech their fathers have done nothing but listen quietly, no emotion on their face to betray their thoughts. Ava puts her hands behind her back again to avoid fidgeting as she waits for them to speak.

“This alliance would take a lot more work than one of marriage,” King Tommy starts.

“An alliance not formed by blood could be broken. We have to know that our kingdoms will remain allies when the two of us are gone,” King Alistair continues.

“We’re ready to put in the work, as future rulers of our kingdoms. I am ready to commit myself to a flourishing alliance with Constantine, but I ask it not be one of marriage. We both agree that if we make this alliance work, through it our kingdoms will come to rely on one another, and both will be stronger for it.” Prince John makes an agreeing sound as Ava looks between their fathers, trying not to betray the anxiety she feels.

Their fathers share a look before they turn to look at them. King Alistair puts his hands behind his back, looking the spitting image of his daughter.

“Very well,” he says, looking gravely at his daughter. “We will cancel the wedding, but,” he puts a hand up in the air in front of him, “the two of you will be responsible for the work behind the alliance. Should it fail, you must promise that you will marry without any protest, for the good of our kingdoms.”

Ava can’t help herself from surging forward, wrapping her arms around her father’s neck as she buries her head in his chest. “Thank you!” she says, a big grin plastered on her face. “Did, did you see Sa- Ser Lance on your way in?” she asks, unable to keep excitement out of her voice.

Lord Hunter takes a few steps forwards into the light and speaks for the first time since their arrival. “I’m afraid Ser Lance left to pack when we arrived. She told me to tell you goodbye.”

“What?” The word falls from Ava’s lips before she can stop it. Sara wouldn’t just leave, would she? She couldn’t. Surely she’s still in her room or eating or maybe she’d convinced a servant to show her where the wine is stored. But surely she wouldn’t leave, not now, not without letting Ava know.

“The bloody idiot,” Prince John mutters, but Ava barely registers it, too busy trying to remember how to breathe.

“There’s something else,” Lord Hunter says, leaning closer to Ava. “We ran into someone a couple days’ ride from here. I think she misses you, she’s waiting for you in the stables.”

Ava’s feet start carrying her towards the stables before she’s even begun to process the words. The joy she feels at who must be waiting for her in the stables is cancelled out by the crushing feeling of Sara slipping out of her grasp. By the time she makes it to the stables a plan has started to formulate in her mind. A plan is good, a plan is something she can focus on that doesn’t make her want to lie down and let the earth swallow her. She knows where Sara’s going, knows the exact path she’ll take, and depending on when Sara had left she might even be able to catch up to her before she reaches the inn. She imagines she’s not pushing Gideon hard after the ride yesterday, but then again, maybe she’d push her even harder to get away from Ava? Ava shakes the thought away, doesn’t have time to entertain thoughts like that.

“You came back,” she grins when she enters the stable and finds her black mare in the nearest stall. Her horse pushes her head into Ava’s chest as Ava brings her hands up to pet her. “What do you say, are you ready for a ride?” Her horse whinnies at Ava’s words. Ava quickly gets her ready for the ride. Just when she’s about to mount her, a guard rushes through the door.

“Princess!” he exclaims, catching his breath. Ava frowns at him. “Where are you going?”

“For a ride,” Ava says dismissively, jumping onto the saddle.

“You can’t!” he says, taking a step towards her. Ava ignores him, just rides past him. In her haste to get away, to get to Sara, she doesn’t notice the guard jumping on a horse of his own.

She sends a silent thanks to the gods when she finds the castle gate open. She speeds through it, making her horse go as fast as she can, ignoring the confused calls of the guards manning the gate.

She doesn’t know for how long she’s ridden when she catches sight of Gideon’s familiar backside in the distance. A smile breaks out on her face, only to be replaced by shock, then panic, as an arrow whizzes past her head. She looks over her shoulder and finds the guard from earlier, already knocking another arrow.  _ Fuck, _ she hadn’t brought any weapons, hadn’t thought she’d need them. She makes her horse go even faster as she does the only thing she can think of, yells Sara’s name into the air, hoping it’ll make it to her.

It takes a few yells, and a few more arrows just barely missing her, before Sara pulls Gideon to a stop and turns her around. At first Sara just looks at her, too far away for Ava to make out her expression. Another arrow whizzes past Ava and Sara turns her eyes to the guard catching up with them. As Gideon starts moving towards them Ava can just make out rage on Sara’s face as she leans down and pulls something out of her boot. A moment later she throws it with the accuracy of an expert assassin. Ava looks behind her as the guard falls off his horse, the horse continuing to run without him. She slows her horse down and turns her around as Sara races past her to the guard. Ava catches up as Sara jumps out of her saddle. Ava slides out of her own as Sara kneels next to the dying guard and slightly twists the knife embedded in his chest.

“Why?” she asks, barely contained fury in her voice.

“To kill the alliance,” he sputters, before his body goes limp.

Sara hits his chest, before she stands up and turns around in one swift motion, pulling Ava closer. “Are you okay?” she asks as she starts inspecting her, looking for any sign of injury. "Tell the king or someone he needs to do a check of his guards when you go back," she grumbles, gentle hands running over Ava's body, setting Ava's skin alight.

With the threat of the guard gone, Ava can’t for the life of her remember how to form words, too ecstatic at having Sara in front of her, touching her. With a grin on her face she brings her hands up to Sara’s face and pulls her in, trying to convey  _ everything _ with just a single kiss. The grin is still on her face when she pulls back, her thumb stroking Sara’s cheek as she loses herself in those blue eyes.

“What-” Sara lets out puzzled, an array of emotions flashing across her face. “Ava, what are you doing here? You should be- Isn’t there a wedding for you to plan or something?”

“No,” Ava says, eyes sparkling as she takes in every feature of Sara’s face.

“No as in you have people to plan that-”

“No as in no wedding to plan.”

Sara furrows her brow and bites her lip. Ava finds the look all too adorable as Sara tries to make sense of her words. Ava can’t bring herself to wait for Sara to speak, can’t stop herself from kissing her again. She slides one hand down Sara’s back, resting it at the small of it, pulling Sara’s body into hers. Sara melts against her, pushes up on her toes to kiss Ava back. The next time they pull apart Ava rests her forehead on Sara’s.

“You’re not getting married?” Sara asks out of breath.

“I’m not getting married,” Ava confirms, leaning forwards to peck Sara on the lips before pulling back again. The smile that adorns Sara’s lips and the sparkle that accompanies it in Sara’s eyes is brighter than any star.

“So, you’re not staying in Constantine?”

“Not for long, I have to work some things out together with the king and the prince as well as my father, then Lord Hunter will stay as an ambassador, along with Gary.”

“Oh I bet Gary’s staying,” Sara smirks. Ava looks at her with a puzzled expression, before Sara’s next words makes her forget about Gary. “So, you’ll need an escort back home?”

“I guess I will. Know any good ones?”

“I might have one in mind,” Sara says as she leans up on her toes again, her words stopping just as her lips reach Ava’s, pulling her into a slow kiss.

“I love you,” Ava whispers into her lips, bliss spreading through her at finally admitting her feelings to Sara.

“I love you too,” Sara whispers back, before kissing her deeper.

“We should get back to the castle- are you coming back?” Ava asks, pulling away, suddenly uncertain about their future despite both their admissions.

“Of course, I mean, I have to. I’m your protector, who knows what kind of evil guards lurk back at the castle. Really, the safest place for the heir is in a soft bed, in a private room with a lockable door,” Sara says, nodding thoughtfully along to her words.

Ava giggles and pulls her back in for one last kiss. “I couldn’t agree more.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed that, this fic has been one of my faves and I'm getting very emo over having posted the last chapter haha  
> Thank you all again for coming on this journey with me, I hope y'all enjoyed it as much as I did♥  
> While this fic has ended I don't think I'm nowhere near ready to properly say goodbye to this universe, so if people want I might do a sequel for it sometime in the not-so-near future.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr [@wardenroot](http://wardenroot.tumblr.com/)


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